escalating
- 1Present participle of escalate.
Tensions between the two nations are escalating despite repeated calls for calm.
The escalating cost of rent has pushed many families out of the city center.
Note
One -ing form doing three jobs: the progressive verb (tensions are escalating), the gerund (escalating the dispute helped no one), and the modifier before a noun (escalating costs). Because escalate works with or without an object, the same form covers things that grow on their own and someone deliberately stepping them up. In technical support it always takes an object: an agent is escalating a ticket to the next level of authority.
The union is escalating its campaign after talks collapsed.
If the fix doesn't work, I'm escalating your ticket to a senior engineer.
escalating is a form of escalate
escalate, verb: To increase something in extent or intensity; to make a situation more serious or intense. Full entry
- Spelling
- escalate → escalating: drop the e, add -ing
Use it in a sentence
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