escalation

Idioms (4)

• add fuel to the fire Neutral · CEFR B2
  To make a bad situation or an argument worse.
• get out of hand Neutral · CEFR B1
  To become impossible to control.
• out of the frying pan into the fire Neutral · CEFR C1
  To escape one bad situation only to land in a worse one.
• arms race Neutral · CEFR C1
  a competitive spiral in which rivals keep escalating their investment to stay ahead