startle
Example Sentences
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They then measured how the mice responded using a modified auditory startle test.
From Science Daily ● May 15, 2026
His lyrics also startle the way poems do.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 26, 2025
But when she sees another dog, everything changes: she snarls, barks loud enough to startle a city block, and lunges with so much force it takes all my strength to hold her back.
From Salon ● Aug. 18, 2025
The next thing Ms Lees knew, the kangaroo had launched towards her car, which she had slowed to a crawl so as not to startle the animal, and started to attack it.
From BBC ● May 23, 2025
Boaz could hear him call, his voice loud enough that it made Boaz startle, a near impossible feat nowadays.
From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny
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
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
It startles you and prompts you to cast off the self-centered tendency to always be imposing your opinions on things.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 6, 2023
A noise in the kitchen startles me from my reading and I check the clock.
From "A Step from Heaven" by An Na
Black said he was startled, although not totally surprised.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 29, 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
If I needed to grab Cosmo, I’d raise my hand high to let his one eye warily track me so he wouldn’t get startled.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
Fact: Pavlov’s dog may have learned to salivate when hearing a ringing bell, but when a bell jingled as Dad and I entered the Brevard Animal Clinic, my poor skittish nerves were startled.
From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas
But that is by design, said INRIA's Serena Ivaldi, as the robots "have to act in human environments" without startling the people they help.
From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026
Airlink's flying feat divided opinion with some labelling the startling manoeuvre reckless, while others praised the precision and expertise on display.
From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2026
It was startling at the time to hear those chants.
From Salon ● Aug. 30, 2026
After Saturday’s loss in Detroit, it had been a startling nine games since Ohtani homered or collected an RBI.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 30, 2026
But just when I was beginning to feel at ease, the most startling thing happened.
From "Summer of the Mariposas" by Guadalupe García McCall
Vocabulary lists containing startle
"All Summer in a Day" by Ray Bradbury
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The Circuit
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"The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet," Vocabulary from Act 5
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