If the battle escalates, the corporate survival instinct still appears to favor the male.

The battles will escalate, expand out into the four worlds.

But rarely do those battles escalate so much that a studio takes a movie away from an award-winning director.

Then the ear-shattering battle escalated, not from one level to the next but in three separate stages.

And, with global growth weakening further in 2012, those battles could escalate into trade wars.

A battle between Congress and the White House for the political high ground in the budget debate only escalated.

The battle between the two men and their organizations escalated last weekend.

The battle had rapidly escalated out of all control, or even sanity.

As the battle escalates, Alice starts to climb out the window.

Their battle escalated to the point where both were killing each other's wives and children.