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Words related to escalate
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escalade (n.)
1590s, "action of using ladders to scale the walls of a fortified place," from French escalade (16c.) "an assault with ladders on a fortification," from Italian scalata, fem. past participle of scalare "to climb by means of a ladder," from scala "ladder," related to Latin scandere "to climb" (see scan). For initial e-, see e-. Also in early use in English in Spanish form escalada, later corrupted to escalado. As the name of a brand of luxury SUV by Cadillac, from 1999.
escalation (n.)1938, derived noun from escalate; the figurative sense is earliest, originally in reference to the battleship arms race among global military powers.
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