- present participle of startle.
startling
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of startling
Explanation
Something that's startling is so unexpected that it shocks or surprises you. It would be startling to open your front door and see a clown standing there. Startling events or circumstances aren't necessarily frightening, though they can be. A surprise party, if it's planned right, is startling, and it can be startling the first time you meet your best friend's identical twin sister. Alarm clocks, smoke alarms, and barking dogs can all be equally startling. They startle you — and startle comes from start, with its Old English root styrtan, "to leap up."
Vocabulary lists containing startling
Amazing
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Marvelous
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Amazing
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Startling racial inequality is not just a fact of the past in New Orleans.
From New York Times • Feb. 14, 2023
Startling video released by the department shows the 57-year-old woman slowly walking down the stairs into the subway station as the hooded suspect follows just steps behind her.
From Fox News • Feb. 25, 2022
Here’s a couple good adjectives, though: Startling - the only way to describe Fennell’s vision and execution in this, her directorial debut.
From Washington Times • Dec. 22, 2020
Startling, ad hoc conjunctions of differing elements were going on long before that. 2-D collage started at least as far back as the invention of paper.
From The Guardian • Oct. 5, 2019
Startling myself with my bold speech, I withdrew my hand from his and clasped it with my other hand, thus restraining myself.
From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
