escalator

CEFRB1

/ˈɛs.kə.leɪ.tə/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    Moving stairs that carry people between different levels.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    A motor-driven mechanical device consisting of a continuous loop of steps that automatically conveys people from one floor to another.

Examples

  • People who are not in a hurry stand on the right side of the escalator.

  • The sign indicates the location of the escalator.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5
Synonyms
2

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. An upward or progressive course.

  2. Anything that escalates.

  3. An escalator clause.

More examples

In context

  • There is a plastic molly-guard covering the escalator's shutdown button to prevent little kids from pushing it and stopping the escalator.

  • They agreed to a cost-of-living escalator.

  • We escalatored to the second floor.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

She took the blank to the second floor instead of climbing the stairs.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

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.