You searched for: “escalate
escalate (verb), escalates; escalated; escalating
1. To increase, to enlarge, or to intensify: The President was trying to escalate the number of troops in the war zone.

Company losses have been escalating so it is imperative that the owner finds better top-level administrators to solve the financial problems before they escalate into a disaster.

2. To make greater and more intense: The political opposition has had a long-term disagreement with the current head of state which is escalating into a potential break up of the administration.
3. To develop into a more serious situation: The news on TV indicated that the demonstrators were escalating their opposition to certain government officials.
4. Etymology: from Latin scalare, "to climb".

Originally escalate referred "to traveling on an escalator" and from this meaning of "rising", it now means any "increasing" of something.

To increase or to intensify efforts to achieve a desired result.
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This entry is located in the following unit: scend-, scen-, scand-, scan-, scans- (page 2)
Word Entries containing the term: “escalate
de-escalate, deescalate (verb); de-escalates, deescalates; de-escalated, deescalated; de-escalating, deescalating
1. To diminish in size, magnitude, scope, or intensity: Perhaps because the birth control pill has been on the market, the number of births per year has de-escalated.
2. To reduce the level or intensity of a difficult or dangerous situation: Mrs. Smith tried to de-escalate the conflict between the two students who were about to start a big fight on the schoolyard.
This entry is located in the following units: de- (page 11) scend-, scen-, scand-, scan-, scans- (page 1)
Word Entries at Get Words: “escalate
To make greater efforts to come up with better solutions that make things better. (1)