startle

American  

[stahr-tl] / ˈstɑr tl /

verb (used with object)

startled, startling

1. to disturb or agitate suddenly as by surprise or alarm.

   Synonyms:

   astonish, frighten, scare

2. to cause to start involuntarily, by or as by a sudden shock.

---

verb (used without object)

startled, startling

1. to start involuntarily, as from a shock of surprise or alarm.

noun

1. a sudden shock of surprise, alarm, or the like.

2. something that startles.

startle British  

/ ˈstɑːtəl /

verb

1. to be or cause to be surprised or frightened, esp so as to start involuntarily

---

Related Words

See shock ¹.

Other Word Forms

• outstartle verb (used with object)
• startlement noun
• startler noun

Etymology

Origin of startle

First recorded before 1100; Middle English stertlen “to rush, caper,” equivalent to stert(en) “to begin, start” ( start + -(e)len -le, or continuing Old English steartlian “to kick, struggle”

Example Sentences

Attractions could be startling, scary, even terrifying—whatever it took for customers to feel more like participants in blockbuster movies than observers of the filmmaking process.

From The Wall Street Journal

I was also struck by its startling intimacy.

From Los Angeles Times

You walk up to a bunch of nice people in Hoosiers sweatshirts and you make the following, startling announcement:

From The Wall Street Journal

People lingering at night along the shorelines of a small, affluent city north of Miami have been startled lately when they look up.

From The Wall Street Journal

For their experiment, the pair identified brain cells in a mouse hippocampus that activated when the animal received a startling shock.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• agitate
• alarm
• amaze
• astonish
• astound
• awe
• scare
• shake up
• shock
• stagger
• stun
• terrify