startle

He understands how to keep viewers vigilant, how to shock them and startle them as soon as they think they know where he’s headed.

From Salon ● Oct. 9, 2026

His lyrics also startle the way poems do.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 26, 2025

While her decision to stand down as an MSP was obvious and much anticipated, it still has the capacity to startle.

From BBC ● Mar. 12, 2025

In the documentary, we see Lopez share Affleck’s love letters with her musicians to inspire them — something that seemed to startle him.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2024

I startle at the novelty of it, then hesitantly send a thought back to him.

From "Warcross" by Marie Lu

More than 60 years on, the scene still startles.

From Salon ● Sep. 4, 2026

I am not sure what startles more—that the feat was achieved at all or that it was Mr. Koolhaas’s firm that pulled it off.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 20, 2026

“They’re a bit of a nuisance, especially if one takes off from a bush next to people and startles them,” Knight said.

From Seattle Times ● May 3, 2024

Whether seeing the fear in combatants and civilians alike or observing how societal ills followed young servicemembers to the front, Lagoze startles in his prose just as he did in his 2019 documentary, “Combat Obscura.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2023

A whoop-whoop sound startles us, and blue lights flash in the rearview mirror.

From "The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas

The difference also appeared across all 37 bird species examined, including easily startled magpies and pigeons that typically allow people to approach much more closely.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 22, 2026

He looked startled for a moment and then with an uncharacteristic grin replied that he considered that a welcome compliment.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026

"The two US deportees looked startled and kept asking which country is this and where it is," said a source.

From Barron's ● Aug. 27, 2026

Chalong then left the scene, and phoned a startled journalist he knew who was in the middle of a live broadcast on YouTube, to tell her what had happened.

From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026

Around mid-morning, Wolf startled a clutch of willow grouse, who shot skywards with indignant gobbles.

From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver

You would think so, except that 19 of those 67 seats were won by Israel’s “Arab parties,” an all-time high, and that startling fact has thrown the entire political system into confusion.

From Salon ● Nov. 2, 2026

The red, as startling as a cymbal clap, strikes the eye, but the impending drama remains out of sight.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 21, 2026

"I've never heard that before but that was heard again later in the wildfire season. That was startling," he said.

From BBC ● Oct. 21, 2026

He saw that startling advances were being made in electronics and that Stanford University was a center of expertise in that realm.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026

Her cinnamon-toast hair was tied back, which made her almond eyes look even larger and more startling.

From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan