escalator
Syllables: es·ca·la·tor/ˈɛs.kə.leɪ.tə/US/ˈɛs.kə.leɪ.tɚ/
escalator noun: anything that escalates.

Noun
escalator (plural escalators)
- Anything that escalates.
- Fourth, communication researchers study the role of stress and negative attitudes as key contributors to conflict, anger as an escalator of conflict, and emotional residues as barriers to reconciliation.2006, Dudley D. Cahn, Ruth Anna Abigail, Managing Conflict Through Communication, page xiv
- A motor-driven mechanical device consisting of a continuous loop of steps that automatically conveys people from one floor to another.
- There is a plastic molly-guard covering the escalator's shutdown button to prevent little kids from pushing it and stopping the escalator.
- It was the Earls Court installation on the Piccadilly tube, opened on October 4, 1911, which really began the successful career of the escalator in this country. At first the public mistrusted it, and a wooden-legged man called "Bumper" Harris was engaged to travel up and down all day to give...1957 July, Charles E. Lee, “The Changing Face of Transport”, in Railway Magazine, page 451
- Synonyms:
- moving staircase
- An upward or progressive course.
- Lots of people fell for the pitch that real estate was an up-only escalator into the American Dream2009 February 19, Froma Harrop, “Housing aid may revive American dream for Latinos”, in Houston Chronicle
- An escalator clause.
- They agreed to a cost-of-living escalator.
Verb
escalator (third-person singular simple present escalators, present participle escalatoring, simple past and past participle escalatored)
- To move by escalator.
- We escalatored to the second floor.
- Synonyms:
- escalate
escalator meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
escalator in Hindi
- mechanical device
- एस्केलेटर eskeleṭar, चलसोपान calsopān, चलती सीढ़ी caltī sīṛhī
escalator in Tamil
- மின்படிக்கட்டு, நகர்படி, மின்படி, நகரேணி, தானியங்கிபடி, நகரும் படிக்கட்டு
escalator in Marathi
- एस्केलेटर, एसकेलेटर, एस्कॅलेटर
escalator in Urdu
- mechanical device
- ایسْکِلیٹَر eskileṭar
More languagesFewer languages
- escalator in Bengali
- এস্কেলেটর eskeleṭor
- escalator in Telugu
- ఎస్కలేటర్, ఎస్కేలేటర్
- escalator in Malayalam
- എസ്കലേറ്റർ, എസ്ക്കലേറ്റർ
- escalator in Kannada
- ಏರಿಳಿ ಪಾವಟಿಗೆಗಳು, ಸೋಪಾನ, ಏರಿಳಿ
- escalator in Punjabi
- ਐਸਕੇਲੇਟਰ, ਐਸਕੈਲੇਟਰ, ਐਸਕਲੇਟਰ
- escalator in Gujarati
- એસ્કેલેટર, એસકેલેટર
- escalator in Odia
- ଏସ୍କେଲେଟର, ଏସ୍କେଲେଟର୍
- escalator in Nepali
- एस्केलेटर, एसकेलेटर, एस्केलेटरलाई
- escalator in Pashto
- برقي ځينه barqí źiná
- escalator in Tagalog
- sigdan
- escalator in Arabic
- دَرَج مُتَحَرِّك daraj mutaḥarrik, سُلَّم مُتَحَرِّك sullam mutaḥarrik, سُلَّم دَوَّار sullam dawwār
- escalator in Malay
- tangga elektrik, tangga gerak, eskalator
- escalator in Indonesian
- tangga berjalan, eskalator
- escalator in Thai
- บันไดเลื่อน ban-dai-lʉ̂ʉan
- escalator in Vietnamese
- thang cuốn
- escalator in Myanmar
- စက်လှေကား cakhleka:
Examples of escalator in a sentence
- It was the Earls Court installation on the Piccadilly tube, opened on October 4, 1911, which really began the successful career of the escalator in this country.1957 July, Charles E. Lee, “The Changing Face of Transport”, in Railway Magazine, page 451:
- I found the Tube trains morbidly fascinating, I had a simpler enthusiasm for the escalators.2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page xiv-xv, Preface:
- And a trip to Holloway Road to find out about the Tube's only spiral escalator. [This escalator never entered service]2021 June 30, Tim Dunn, “How we made... Secrets of the London Underground”, in RAIL, number 934, page 51:
Synonyms of escalator
Forms of escalator
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | escalators |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | escalators |
| present participle | escalatoring |
| past participle | escalatored |
| past | escalatored |
Origin of escalator
By genericization from the former trademark Escalator, created by American inventor Charles Seeberger in 1900, from Latin ē- (“from, out of”) + scala (“ladder”) + -tor, which forms nouns of agency; see the appendix. Broader usage may be influenced by its derivative escalate, by surface analysis, escalate + -or. For an alternative etymology, see the Online Etymology Dictionary.
Words formed from escalator
Phrases with escalator
Words that rhyme with escalator
- translator
- alligator
- vibrator
- freighter
- terminator
- waiter
- crater
- curator
- gaiter
- incubator
- plater
- pulsator
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- skater
- cater
- collator
- creator
- dictator
- equator
- greater
- later
- relator
- rotator
- collimator
- dilator
- excavator
- frater
- gator
- inflater
- locator
- narrator
- palpator
- saeter
- slater
- traitor
- viator
- awaiter
- baiter
- citator
- corrugator
- dater
- deflator
- dominator
- emasculator
- glossator
- gyrator
- hater
- hydrator
- legator
- levator
- mandator
- mater
- migrator
- negator
- nitrator
- plaiter
- procreator
- spectator
- tater
- titrator
- 'mater
Questions about escalator
- What does escalator mean?
- Escalator means anything that escalates.
- What is escalator in Hindi?
- Escalator in Hindi is एस्केलेटर (eskeleṭar), चलसोपान (calsopān), चलती सीढ़ी (caltī sīṛhī). See Escalator meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use escalator in a sentence?
- It was the Earls Court installation on the Piccadilly tube, opened on October 4, 1911, which really began the successful career of the escalator in this country.
- What part of speech is escalator?
- Escalator can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce escalator?
- Escalator is pronounced /ˈɛs.kə.leɪ.tə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of escalator?
- The plural of escalator is escalators.
Words near escalator in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: escalator (page history and authors); escalator (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); escalator (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); escalator (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); escalator (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); escalator (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); escalator (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); escalator (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); escalator (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); escalator (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-escalator.wav.
Cite this entry: “escalator.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/escalator. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
