escalation

a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.

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Collins

World English Dictionary

escalate (ˈɛskəˌleɪt)

—vb
	to increase or be increased in extent, intensity, or magnitude: to escalate a war; prices escalated because of inflation

[C20: back formation from escalator]

esca'lation

—n

escalate (ˈɛskəˌleɪt)

—vb
	to increase or be increased in extent, intensity, or magnitude: to escalate a war; prices escalated because of inflation

[C20: back formation from escalator]

esca'lation

—n

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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

escalate

1922, back formation from escalator; it came into general use with a sense of "raise" after 1959. Related: Escalated; escalating.

escalation

derived noun from escalate; in the figurative sense it is from 1938, in reference to the battleship arms race among global military powers.

American Heritage

Cultural Dictionary

escalation definition

An increase in the intensity or geographical scope of a war or diplomatic confrontation. For example, during the Korean War, some Americans urged escalation of the war through bombing of the People's Republic of China.

Example sentences

With one the maintenance will cost a lot, with the other the escalation will

cost about the same amount.

But the risk of escalation into conflict has seemed limited.

The technical device of a built-in exit might be superseded by the political

reality of a built-in escalation.

There's a real risk of out-of-control escalation in the pirate war.

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Related Words

escalate escalator clause

escalator clause

Matching Quote

"For some years now, there has been proof that the devastating effects of the traumatization of children take their inevitable toll on society—a fact that we are still forbidden to recognize. This knowledge concerns every single one of us, and—if disseminated widely enough—should lead to fundamental changes in society; above all, to a halt in the blind escalation of violence."

-Alice Miller