Escalate
Escalate verb - To make greater in size, amount, or number.
Usage example: the president promised to escalate the government's program to combat the dreaded disease
Reduce
Reduce verb - To make smaller in amount, volume, or extent.
Usage example: you'll have to reduce the amount of money you spend on unnecessary purchases if you want to have any money left for retirement
Common collocations
Cite this Source
Reduce and Escalate. (2016). Retrieved 2026, July 21, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/escalate/reduce
Escalate & Reduce. N.p., 2016. Web. 21 Jul. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/escalate/reduce>.
Reduce or Escalate. 2016. Accessed July 21, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/escalate/reduce.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "escalate" and "reduce" have occurred on timeline