escalation

noun escalations

1. countable, uncountable The act of escalating.
2. countable, uncountable An increase or rise, especially to counteract a perceived discrepancy. Thousands of violent videos are still available on the internet, according to Alexander, who claims they lead to an escalation in offline tensions between rival gangs. "I believe some young people are losing their lives as result of this material on the internet," she said.
3. countable, uncountable A deliberate or premeditated increase in the violence or geographic scope of a conflict. The 1840s saw a further escalation, with new laws treating most slave ships captured as pirates, and a number of military expeditions being mounted to destroy slaving centres on the African coast and depose, or even kill, remaining local kings and chiefs who had refused to end slavery in their terri
4. countable, uncountable The reassignment of a difficult problem to someone whose job is dedicated to handling such cases. The manager ensures that the escalation team generates a continuous stream of root cause analysis exercises and the subsequent corrective actions.

Opposite: de-escalation