Those chapter entries will soon come, I promise!! But here's a distraction in the meantime. I was looking at various dictionary sites for the word "escalate".. ever since I told Jamie that she was using the wrong word to describe "the escalating (growing) rip in her skirt". I was trying to find an authoritative source that would prove to her that it's not standard usage to use "escalate" when describing a physical increase in an object... Why should I even care? Good question.. I just felt like disagreeing with her on this point :)
Anyway, here's what I found at dictionary.net....
"
No entries found for "escalate"
We have not found any entries on our dictionary databases for the word you entered. Perhaps you are looking for one of the following instead?
escalade
"
PS. Anybody know of a dictionarywiki?
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6 comments:
Try using dictionary.com instead. I searched escalate and it seemed to find me a defintion.
I also searched on dictionary.com. here are the results for my query:
escalate
Also, forgot to mention this, maybe your friend was referring to the rip as an escalating problem or crisis? Of course, I wasn't there, but just to throw that into the pot.
According to several online dictionaries, escalate means the following:
-To increase, enlarge, or intensify
-To increase in intensity or extent
-To make or become greater or larger
Clearly, there are no context requirements, so although the aforementioned scenario may be described as atypical, it certainly is not invalid by any means. The rip in MY skirt merely increased in size, became larger, more intensely torn. Also, I concur with the post above...the rip WAS indeed an escalating crisis. So, there! ;)
I looked dictionary.com, but the results were much more ordinary ;) Dictionary.net was funnier, suggesting "escalade" instead. And if the rip was an escalating crisis, well then, I retract my complaint... Jamie, your word choice was exquisite and witty..
Maybe that dictionary site just has a bad cold, and therefore can't pronouce the letter 'T,' so it really was saying escalate...
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