escalate

Given the potential for a cyber tit-for-tat to escalate, Obama has even more incentive to find a diplomatic solution.

It does, and certainly has, helped to escalate the crisis by having this militaristic response to it.

If Rwanda does cross the border in response, it would significantly escalate the war and humanitarian crisis.

The most important thing, he and these experts agreed, was finding an environment where slights never escalate to violence.

Washington, in particular, has been loath to do anything that might escalate.