🇨🇳Chinese Source WordCode: ZH

升级

Pronunciation / Transliteration: shēngjí

🇬🇧 Direct English Meaning:
Escalation/ˌɛs.kəˈleɪ.ʃən/
nounCEFR B2 (Upper)Top #2150 frequency
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🇨🇳 Example Sentence in Chinese:

"双方都希望避免冲突进一步升级。"

Comprehensive Definitions & Senses

2 senses
As noun
  1. 1

    A rapid increase, rise, or intensification of something, especially conflict, tension, or violence.

    "The sudden escalation of hostilities along the border alarmed international diplomats."
  2. 2

    The process of raising an issue or problem to a higher level of authority for resolution.

    "The customer support team required an immediate escalation of the technical bug to senior engineers."

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Antonyms & Contrasting Words (1)

Linguistic Origin & Historical Etymology

Derived from the verb escalate, which was coined in the mid-20th century as a back-formation from escalator. The escalator itself comes from the Greek root skála (ladder) combined with the English suffix -ator, popularized in the late 19th century. Over time, escalation shifted metaphorically from the physical action of riding moving stairs upward to denote a rapid increase, intensification, or rising scale of conflict, tension, or prices.

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