escalate

English

Etymology

Back-formation from escalator.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) enPR: esʹ kə lāt, IPA: /ˈɛs.kə.leɪt/

Verb

escalate (third-person singular simple present escalates, present participle escalating, simple past and past participle escalated) (transitive and intransitive)

1. to increase (something) in extent or intensity; to intensify or step up

   Violence escalated during the election.

   The shooting escalated the existing hostility.

2. in technical support, to transfer a telephone caller to the next higher level of authority

   The tech 1 escalated the caller to a tech 2.

Translations

to intensify

Bulgarian: ескалирам (bg), повишавам се (bg) Chinese: Mandarin: 升高 (shēnggāo) Dutch: escaleren (nl)

Finnish: nousta (fi), kohota (fi), eskaloitua (fi), kasvaa (fi) German: eskalieren (de) Portuguese: intensificar (pt)

to transfer a telephone caller to the next higher level of authority

Derived terms

• deescalate

Related terms

• escalator