escalate

C1 Topic:Cause, Change & Process

US /ˈɛs.kjə.leɪt/ UK /ˈɛs.kə.leɪt/ See IPA manual

verb Freq #22762

Meanings

1

verb
To become or make something more serious or intense.

The argument quickly escalated into a violent fight.
2

verb
To pass a problem to someone with more authority to deal with it.

If the support agent can't help, they will escalate your case to a manager.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 verb · to become or make something... intensify

Word family

Forms escalatedescalatesescalating

Derived forms de-escalateescalatinglyescalationescalatoryreescalateunescalated

Related forms escalator scale

Etymology

Back-formation from escalator.

Topics

Cause, Change & Process Actions & Processes Word Formation & Derivatives

# escalate

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C1
**Part of speech:** verb
**IPA (US):** ˈɛs.kjə.leɪt
**IPA (UK):** ˈɛs.kə.leɪt
**Frequency rank:** 22762

## Meanings
1. To become or make something more serious or intense.
2. To pass a problem to someone with more authority to deal with it.

## Examples
- The argument quickly escalated into a violent fight.
- If the support agent can't help, they will escalate your case to a manager.

## Derived Forms
- de-escalate
- escalatingly
- escalation
- escalatory
- reescalate
- unescalated

## Related Forms
- escalator
- scale

## Etymology
Back-formation from escalator.

## AI Etymology
Escalate is a back-formation from escalator. The surrounding word family includes derived forms such as de-escalate, escalatingly, escalation, and escalatory and related forms such as escalator and scale. In present use it covers to become or make something more serious or intense and to pass a problem to someone with more authority to deal with it.

## Topics
- Cause, Change & Process
- Actions & Processes
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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escalate

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