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escalate
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  • In seconds, the situation escalated into the largest confrontation I'd ever witnessed.†   (source)
  • Unfortunately, Aringarosa had learned, in an age of religious cynicism, cults, and televangelists, Opus Dei's escalating wealth and power was a magnet for suspicion.†   (source)
  • As you know, the situation in New Asia has been escalating, and I've been working with him more on the military side of things.†   (source)
  • Usually, the bickering ran its course after a few minutes, but half an hour passed and not only was it still going on, it was escalating.†   (source)
  • With each dead end, I felt an escalating fear.†   (source)
  • IF THESE ARE OUR OBJECTIVES—IF WE AGREE THAT THIS IS WHAT WE WANT—WHY ARE WE ESCALATING THE WAR?†   (source)
  • He is an olive green when he talks to a department head, an escalating series of oranges when he speaks to Mademoiselle Fleury from the greenhouses, a bright red when he tries to cook.†   (source)
  • But it's escalating.†   (source)
  • But such things could escalate into violence.†   (source)
  • The flirting escalated all night long, and by the time we were told to go home, we couldn't walk away.†   (source)
  • As the Cold War escalated, some scientists exposed Henrietta's cells to massive doses of radiation to study how nuclear bombs destroyed cells and find ways to reverse that damage.†   (source)
  • I stand up and look down at the bed, holding my breath in fear of the sounds that are escalating from deep within my throat.†   (source)
  • It wasn't a matter of money —more a matter of escalating doses, forgetting I'd sold pieces or forgetting to send bills, Hobie looking at me funny when I'd overdone things and come downstairs a bit too glassy and out-of-it.†   (source)
  • People who don't climb mountains-the great majority of humankind, that is to say-tend to assume that the sport is a reckless, Dionysian pursuit of ever escalating thrills.†   (source)
  • It was just an escalation of her madness.†   (source)
  • El Tirandaro, identified as Diego Cruz Ponce, was one of fifty-seven murders in Nuevo Laredo that year, and the violence has escalated since then.†   (source)
  • The whole thing would have escalated into this giant girl fight"Lilly has seen every single episode of Xena: Warrior Princess, and can kick box like nobody's business"if Josh Richter hadn't slammed his locker door closed and said "I'm outta here" in a disgusted voice.†   (source)
  • My nightmares escalated into night terrors.†   (source)
  • At the beginning the elves fought only to defend themselves, for they were reluctant to escalate the fighting, but the dragons' ferocity eventually forced them to attack for their own survival.†   (source)
  • Either way, things escalate and fights happen.†   (source)
  • We had to endure Father's escalating rage, when he returned home to find dinner no farther along than an unresolved argument over whether there are or are not worms in the flour, or any flour at all.†   (source)
  • As had happened throughout Ruth's childhood, LuLing's fury escalated until she could barely speak, except to sputter the old threat: "Maybe I die soon!"†   (source)
  • We made love three times that night, each time responding to slow, sweet imperatives of touch and warmth and closeness and the escalating intensity of sensation.†   (source)
  • Angela just stared out the window at the escalating storm, and Lauren twisted around in the middle seat to occupy Tyler's attention, so I could simply lay my head back on the seat and close my eyes and try very hard not to think.†   (source)
  • Every half hour brought an escalation in the mayhem outside.†   (source)
  • Well, that de-escalated quickly.†   (source)
  • The same anger that causes most petty theft, the same desire to strike back at an employer perceived as unfair, can escalate to armed robbery.†   (source)
  • He thought of trying to get out of bed, but the thought of the thump and the drop and the accompanying escalation of pain constantly deterred him.†   (source)
  • — had escalated throughout much of Whittier Boulevard.†   (source)
  • The next hours saw a massive escalation in response to Missy's disappearance.†   (source)
  • I'm about to step in before it escalates, but Snyder responds before I do.†   (source)
  • Anyway, it was those temper tantrums that really got people going, escalating everything, and around the time I'm talking about—the summer of our Senior 2, when we were thirteen—that was when the persecution reached its peak.†   (source)
  • That it did not happen in the heat of the moment or as the accidental result of escalating violence but was rather an act planned and executed by a man with murder on his mind.†   (source)
  • At the time this move was widely condemned, and inu charges escalated.†   (source)
  • One starts yelling at the other, the other yells back, the anger escalates, and nine times out of ten, the man ends up grabbing the woman.†   (source)
  • This close to the ocean the weather changed constantly, and a rainstorm could quickly escalate into a flash flood.†   (source)
  • But things unspoken were the center of interest-the cause, the detectives were convinced, of Hickock's escalating distress.†   (source)
  • 'Why is it hurting again?' she asked, her voice escalating.†   (source)
  • You don't need to escalate the situation.†   (source)
  • He had escalated the battle against freedom to new heights of repression.†   (source)
  • Fading speed buzz, escalating alcohol, it was all I could do to stay upright.†   (source)
  • By the end of February, the boy war had really escalated, though.†   (source)
  • Whatever the cause of the argument, it escalated, and ended when Perkins pulled out a .†   (source)
  • Escalating tensions in Vietnam, social announcements about who had entertained whom the previous week, a page of local women modeling the new spring hats.†   (source)
  • The difference is that over time, the heavy smokers escalated whereas the chippers stayed where they were.†   (source)
  • There was also a short article on rioting that the reporter claimed was "the direct result of escalating tensions between the West and East government on new birth legislation."†   (source)
  • What began as just taking a chair escalated, by day three, to following them to the snack bar.†   (source)
  • Simple escalation is the answer, Miro.†   (source)
  • One study suggested that the millennium development goal of curbing deaths by 75 percent could be achieved by spending escalating sums ranging from an additional $1 billion in 2006 up to an additional $6 billion in 2015.†   (source)
  • Not only did it escalate her worry, it also infuriated her whenever the U.S. military was portrayed in a negative light.†   (source)
  • The level of violence across the country was, once again, escalating, and the Taliban was said to be regrouping.†   (source)
  • It escalated.†   (source)
  • But one thing was certain about the Change, if a fledgling was cut off from contact with adult vampyres, the process escalated and the teenager died.†   (source)
  • She ended up with five thousand a month, escalating to ten if Jenks's earnings substantially increased.†   (source)
  • The pace of events escalated during the final months of the campaign.†   (source)
  • At this point, the argument could have escalated.†   (source)
  • The only response, in this context, is to escalate-to not give in, not ever.†   (source)
  • We don't see how any further escalation will benefit you.†   (source)
  • Across the bar, the argument between the man and his wife was escalating.†   (source)
  • Both sides opened fire, and in a battle that quickly escalated on the sweeping open fields and orchard of William Clarke's farm, the fighting turned as furious as any of the war, the dead and bleeding strewn everywhere.†   (source)
  • Offer him thirty-five and escalate to seventy-five under pressure.†   (source)
  • All efforts by the county were met with Mother's numerous excuses until she escalated to threats.†   (source)
  • The steadily escalating wind no longer spoke merely through the rustling foliage of the trees, through the cricket-rasping branches of the shrubbery, and through the hollow flute-like music issuing from the eaves of the mansion, for now it also enjoyed a voice of its own: a haunted keening that curled chillingly in listening ears, akin to the muted but frightful ululant crying of coyote packs chasing down prey in some far canyon of the night.†   (source)
  • "Sir, we will de-escalate if at all possible," he said.†   (source)
  • When she was two students away, the escalating dread overcame Max and he shut his eyes.†   (source)
  • Everything started to escalate after that, and I thought there would be a fight right there around the bus between their fans, our players, and our fans who had also gathered there to welcome us as we exited the bus.†   (source)
  • The Kagame administration was accused not of having started this ongoing catastrophe, but of escalating it -- and also, by a UN panel of inquiry, of having joined various other governments in plundering the Congo's mineral wealth.†   (source)
  • The president and First Lady often slip into the Rose Garden for a quiet walk, where he confides in her about the escalating tension.†   (source)
  • After that tempers escalated quickly.†   (source)
  • It was 1966, the war in Vietnam was gradually escalating, and Charleston had never looked so beautiful, so untouchable, or so completely mine.†   (source)
  • They had eliminated slavery, yes, but at the same time they had escalated their own colonization efforts, apparently preferring to exploit whole countries and their resources rather than simply slapping chains on the unfortunate few.†   (source)
  • Helen Caldicott naming the consequences of an escalating nuclear arms race gave rise to an antinuclear movement.†   (source)
  • As the war escalated in fury, mounting Confederate casualties and loss of property, including slaves, caused this flame of hatred to burn ever more brightly.†   (source)
  • The exchanges often escalated dangerously, for Wulfgar was a proud warrior and grew enraged and frustrated at the drow's superiority.†   (source)
  • It escalates.†   (source)
  • Our elected leaders were escalating the war and people were getting assassinated right and left.†   (source)
  • As if by a carpet of magic, he transported them through the lands of illusion, raising up palaces of colored smoke upon pillars of water and of fire, escalating the benches at which they sat down canyons of stardust, striving with coral and myrrh to bend their senses beyond themselves, bringing onto them all their Aspects, wherein he held them, rotating about the archetypes upon which they had based their powers, as Shiva danced in a graveyard the Dance of Destruction and the Dance of…†   (source)
  • It started out as an abrupt shriek, like simple surprise, but then escalated into pure terror.†   (source)
  • "No, Newt, I don't understand," Minho said, the frustration in his voice escalating.†   (source)
  • I thought about my mother and how she would feel if this escalated any further.†   (source)
  • Tensions escalated, and before long, threats were made that were later regretted.†   (source)
  • He could probably see the waterworks starting to escalate.†   (source)
  • If things escalated a bit, bedrooms would illuminate as people awoke to investigate the commotion.†   (source)
  • As a result, space was no longer an issue, but other dangers escalated.†   (source)
  • "This is textbook cyber-escalation," said Professor Latham, looking at the camera.†   (source)
  • This escalated to fights in the cafeteria and parking lot.†   (source)
  • It was almost Christmas, and there was no sense in escalating.†   (source)
  • Little things like this had a way of escalating into blood feuds.†   (source)
  • This had allowed the escalation to happen.†   (source)
  • Mark's bad feelings about it all have escalated exponentially upon the news.†   (source)
  • I said the fighting would escalate in the near future,not that we had yet to start.†   (source)
  • Just because I now understood Jeb's plan, it didn't make things easier when he escalated it.†   (source)
  • He's in business solely to make a profit-and his profits escalate in direct ratio to his reputation.†   (source)
  • It started with just an odd feeling, which escalated to creepy as I realized I was being watched.†   (source)
  • As the voices escalated, Ronnie felt physically sick; it was all she could do not to vomit.†   (source)
  • The strident warble of Oromis's teakettle intruded, escalating in volume until Eragon's ears rang.†   (source)
  • The crisis was escalating rapidly, and Pollard was getting alarmed.†   (source)
  • You don't want this thing to escalate like it did before.†   (source)
  • At this, Bellagrog's amusement escalated to hilarity.†   (source)
  • But he didn't try to escalate—didn't even kiss me again.†   (source)
  • And, she admitted, she'd been the one who escalated the whole thing.†   (source)
  • It would only escalate until one side was entirely extinct.†   (source)
  • Mum began to cry, great quivering sobs that soon escalated into outright bawling.†   (source)
  • At first, it was a low, rumbling sort of crying, but then it began to escalate.†   (source)
  • "I'm who I've always been," he said, his voice escalating.†   (source)
  • "He's breaking his own pattern and escalating.†   (source)
  • Painfully simple, but without the escalating complications he never would have agreed.†   (source)
  • But in my thirteenth summer, the battle between the two matchmakers suddenly escalated.†   (source)
  • Joey's voice escalated as he was cornered.†   (source)
  • Instantly, the president knows that his Vietnam problem has just escalated.†   (source)
  • It's very physical, and it looked to be escalating."†   (source)
  • The goblins made a whining noise in their throats and glanced at one another in an escalating panic.†   (source)
  • If it escalates, and the kids are brought in to me, then yes.†   (source)
  • Multiple gifts, given in order of escalating greatness, over the entire day.†   (source)
  • The situation was escalating quickly from impossibly dangerous to dangerously impossible.†   (source)
  • And whatever you do, don't escalate the situation.†   (source)
  • Change the subject before this escalates, Miri tells herself.†   (source)
  • She screamed and started stamping her feet, her voice escalating to a painful pitch.†   (source)
  • Oh, I knew my bad habits had escalated, and if Kristina had had her way that day, well, who knows?†   (source)
  • "I'm not saying I'm right," Shay said, his voice escalating.†   (source)
  • The Kennedy brothers have deliberately kept him out of their escalating battle for racial equality.†   (source)
  • The so-called Buddhist crisis escalates when Diem refuses to punish the men who did the shooting.†   (source)
  • This was an escalation from the previous, slightly less stringent grounding that I'd earned for an unexplained three-day disappearance and one episode of cliff diving.†   (source)
  • Their idea of killing their way down the Elite's castes is pretty drastic, and we're all afraid those attacks are going to escalate."†   (source)
  • Things escalated after a cell of crazed anti-Happicuppa fanatics bombed the Lincoln Memorial, killing five visiting Japanese schoolkids that were part of a Tour of Democracy.†   (source)
  • I stand up and look down at the bed, holding my breath in fear of the sounds that are escalating from deep within my throat.†   (source)
  • By 6:00 Pm as the storm escalated into a full-scale blizzard with driving snow and winds gusting in excess of 60 knots, I came upon the rope that had been fixed by the Montenegrins on the snow slope 600 feet above the Col. Sobered by the force of the rising tempest, I realized that I'd gotten down the trickiest ground just in the nick of time.†   (source)
  • The week before Ruth wrote those fateful words, she and LuLing had been escalating in their torment of each other.†   (source)
  • I wasn't over Pippa and I knew it, might never be over her, and that was just something I was going to have to live with, the sadness of loving someone I couldn't have; but I also knew my more immediate difficulty was in rising to (what I found, anyway) an uncomfortably escalating social pace.†   (source)
  • THOUGH MY (SOMETIME) DAYS off had kept my dose from escalating too much, the withdrawals got uncomfortable sooner than I'd expected and even with the pills I'd saved to taper I spent the next days feeling pretty low: too sick to eat, unable to stop sneezing.†   (source)
  • Her anger escalated like water in a teakettle—Ruth saw it, the rolling bubbles, the steam—and then LuLing erupted with the ultimate threat: "Maybe I die soon!†   (source)
  • I once saw a young couple's argument at the local Chinese buffet escalate into a symphony of curse words and insults.†   (source)
  • Then too: I hoped that the escalating social roar which I'd been riding like a boat in a hurricane would slow, post-wedding, since all I really wanted was to get back to the halcyon days of summer when I'd had Kitsey all to myself: dinners alone, watching movies in bed.†   (source)
  • Then the Vietnam action escalated and one morning a lone jet fighter — no one really knows from which side, but no one ever told Webb that — swooped down at low altitude and strafed his wife and children while they were playing in the water.†   (source)
  • My sense of fear and danger escalated: Not only were we about to enter a hospital, which would freak us all out, but it might end up being for nothing.†   (source)
  • I shook my head, trying to understand how it escalated so quickly, only then seeing it hadn't been fast at all.†   (source)
  • Talk ran from neighbors to grandchildren, to who was teaching the latest Bible study or how to properly hang a set of curtains or the escalating price of rib roast, all seasoned with a bit of harmless gossip.†   (source)
  • There must be a dozen ways to wipe us out quickly, but they drew it out in five waves of escalating horror.†   (source)
  • They keep situations from escalating.†   (source)
  • Then, over the next half hour, and to the accompaniment of the escalating wind and rain outside, he told her how he hadn't been around when Mark was growing up, about the argument in the restaurant, his inability to find the will to repair the rift between them.†   (source)
  • Thibault wasn't completely immune to the escalating tension, and like everyone else, he'd needed an outlet.†   (source)
  • The situation would escalate.†   (source)
  • My erotic collection is the key to my understanding the fantasy life of Western culture, the escalating war between men and women.†   (source)
  • In both cases, the hoax was originally perpetrated as a practical joke, but public interest escalated so quickly that confessions were rendered difficult.†   (source)
  • This target quickly escalated into three separate firefights, and now we had reports of additional fighters advancing on our position.†   (source)
  • The noises of humming and cranking machinery had escalated and now filled the air to the point that Mark couldn't whisper and be heard.†   (source)
  • It was faint but unmistakable as it seeped through the paneled walls, a note of surprise that escalated a moment later to pitched hysteria before going silent.†   (source)
  • I sensed a certain violence escalating inside him, and I didn't want to see what would happen if it blew out of control.†   (source)
  • Of all the issues that hindered the peace process, none was more devastating and frustrating than the escalation of violence in the country.†   (source)
  • The precariousness of the situation escalated by the minute, with some of the assault force pinned down by increasingly steady fire coming from virtually all directions, yet the primary SEAL assault team remained calm and focused on the shooter inside the residence.†   (source)
  • The fighting between Targos and Termalaine had escalated in the past few weeks, despite Cassius's efforts to diffuse it and bring the principles of the warring towns to the bargaining table.†   (source)
  • The First, Fifth, among other units, was ordered in to pacify the escalating violence since the fall of Baghdad the year before.†   (source)
  • What's interesting about this period, however, is that it takes about three years for the teens in that last group to go from casual to regular smoking — roughly from fifteen to eighteen years of age — and then for the next five to seven years there is a gradual escalation of their habit.†   (source)
  • The rumors about Seabiscuit's bad-leggedness continued to circulate, and the stewards' anxiety escalated.†   (source)
  • My travels escalated to the point where after a night flight, I'd hop in my car at one in the morning, drive six hours without a break, to arrive just in time to spend the day at a teen conference.†   (source)
  • That's the problem with stuff like this—everyone keeps trying to top one another, and then things escalate out of control."†   (source)
  • It's all intramural, as it is throughout much of the country, with whites moaning to whites as they feel the bite-in many cases for the first time-of being clobbered in what escalated into a racial contest.†   (source)
  • And now we must move on to more pressing business—the escalating evil that plagues the world now that Astaroth is free… Max sat in stunned silence while ministers and senators shuffled papers and reported on troubles in their home countries.†   (source)
  • 'Even when a battered woman is not immediately under physical threat, she psychologically believes she is, thanks to a chronic, escalating pattern of violence that's caused her to suffer from PTSD.†   (source)
  • Harming a woman during hostilities always leads to an escalation of fighting, but neither the Taipings nor the soldiers in the Great Hunan Army were from around here.†   (source)
  • This was an effort to retaliate for the unprovoked attacks the military had launched on the ANC in Maseru and elsewhere and was a clear escalation of the armed struggle.†   (source)
  • I watched, divided between confusion and escalating concern, as he drew a set of familiar keys from his pocket and inserted my house key into the bolt.†   (source)
  • Then the ear-shattering battle escalated, not from one level to the next but in three separate stages.†   (source)
  • Apparently, Loomis had escalated his criminal resume last night when he and two friends decided to go after a drug dealer who didn't bring them enough pot.†   (source)
  • There is no day and there is no night in the Kennedy White House as the Cuban confrontation escalates.†   (source)
  • But it was John Kennedy who ordered a gradual escalation in the number of troops since taking office, hoping to ensure that Vietnam did not fall to communism and thus perhaps begin a domino effect that would see other Asian nations turn their backs on democracy.†   (source)
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