Meaning & use
escalating
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“escalating” is a form of “escalate”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meanings
adjectivebefore a noun
Growing steadily bigger, worse or more intense, usually faster than people can easily manage.
Grammar: Sits before the noun it describes: escalating costs, not costs that are escalating, in the adjective use.
Patterns
- escalating costs
- escalating tension between someone
The escalating cost of rent forced many students to move out of the city.
Neighbors worried about the escalating argument over the fence.
Doctors warned of an escalating number of cases in the region.
verbtransitive or intransitive
The -ing form of escalate: becoming or making something greater, more serious or more intense by stages.
Grammar: Intransitive: the dispute is escalating. Transitive: they are escalating the dispute.
Patterns
- escalating into something
- escalating a problem to someone
The two countries are escalating their trade dispute with new taxes.
She kept escalating the complaint until a manager finally called her back.
The quarrel is escalating into a full-blown feud.
Word forms
| base form | escalate |
|---|---|
| past tense | escalated |
| third person singular | escalates |
Common combinations
- escalating violence
- Police were called in to deal with the escalating violence outside the stadium.
- escalating tensions
- Escalating tensions between the departments slowed the whole project.
- escalating costs
- The escalating costs of the building work shocked the committee.
- escalating crisis
- The government struggled to respond to the escalating crisis.
- keep escalating
- Prices keep escalating every winter.
Synonyms and how they differ
- mounting
- Mounting suggests a gradual pile-up of pressure or evidence, while escalating implies sharper steps upward.
- rising
- Rising is neutral and can be good or bad, whereas escalating nearly always describes something getting worse or more dangerous.
- intensifying
- Intensifying focuses on strength of feeling or effort, while escalating focuses on stepwise growth in scale or seriousness.
Opposites
Word family
- escalate verb
- to grow or make something grow more serious
- escalation noun
- a rapid increase in seriousness or scale
- de-escalate verb
- to reduce the intensity of a conflict
- escalator noun
- a moving staircase
Commonly confused: escalating or alleviating?
escalating vs alleviating
Alleviating means making a problem less severe, which is the opposite direction from escalating.
Practice
Which word best completes the sentence? The ____ costs of the project made the company reconsider.
Choose one answer.
Escalating means growing quickly worse or larger, which explains why the company reconsidered. Diminishing and stabilizing would not cause worry about cost.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “escalating”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.