- 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.
When the call ended, the driver said something startling: “Thank you for your success.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
The bat fell onto a table at the Yellow Deli in Vista, startling patrons.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
McElwee finds images both startling and serene; videos that fill in gaps he couldn’t on his own.
From Salon ● Jul. 24, 2026
Bill Nguyen, a Silicon Valley veteran who recently founded an AI voice startup called Olive, used a startling 774 billion tokens in the last month and a half, mostly for his personal use, he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
Then Siunek is startling me from a deep sleep I didn’t know I was in.
From "The Light in Hidden Places" by Sharon Cameron
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.
