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escalate

/ˈɛs.kə.leɪt/verb

escalate is spelled E-S-C-A-L-A-T-E: 8 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 2.2 times per million words in written English, the 18,297th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a verb, escalate means “To increase (something) in extent or intensity; to intensify or step up” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in escalate?

Letters8: E-S-C-A-L-A-T-E
Syllables3 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing2.2 times per million words; the 18,297th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is escalate?

Escalate appears 2.2 times per million words in written English, the 18,297th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce escalate?

  • US /ˈɛs.kə.leɪt/
  • /ˈɛs.kjə.leɪt/

Escalate has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-escalate.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of escalate

  • escalates present, singular, he/she/it
  • escalating participle, present
  • escalated participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does escalate mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

verb

  1. 1

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

    Violence escalated during the election.

  2. 2

    In technical support, to transfer a customer, a problem, etc. to the next higher level of authority

    The tech 1 escalated the caller to a tech 2.

  3. 3

    To climb.

  4. 4

    rareTo move by escalator.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Escalate in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchintensifier (to intensify), faire remonter (to transfer a telephone caller or problem to…)
Germaneskalieren, steigern, verschärfen, sich ausweiten (to intensify), weiterleiten (to transfer a telephone caller or problem to…)
Portugueseintensificar (to intensify), transferir (to transfer a telephone caller or problem to…)
Spanishelevar a un nivel superior (to transfer a telephone caller or problem to…)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does escalate come from?

Back-formation from escalator.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after escalate