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.
Right-hander Gibson, whose power is less startling given her squatter frame, can crunch the ball straight but is more adept in finding boundaries behind square.
From BBC • Jun. 20, 2026
Whether QMM proves to be the final word or a stepping stone, it opens a startling possibility: the universe may not only be geometry and energy.
From Science Daily • Jun. 18, 2026
His recovery and startling physical transformation hardly a year after his injury became a frequent topic on social media.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 12, 2026
A set of before-and-after portraits of patients treated by the American missionary and surgeon Peter Parker are among Lam Qua’s most startling commissions.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 3, 2026
And so the next day we hiked, really hiked, startling Mary Ellen with our thrusting strides.
From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson
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.
