startle

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

At the same hearing, Talley revealed that Ferguson still had the chair with the bullet hole and kept it in his living room, a fact that seemed to startle the judge.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 22, 2025

She watched the bird startle into the air, and something red flashed in her peripheral vision.

From Anya and the Dragon by Sofiya Pasternack

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

The pop of a champagne bottle in the kitchen quickly startles the crowd.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2024

What probably startles beginning bromeliad growers most, even after providing diligent care, is the inevitable decline of the original or mother plant after it flowers.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 22, 2023

“Oh,” I say as a small dog with a squished-up nose startles awake, her tail coiling like a spring.

From "The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman" by Gennifer Choldenko

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

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

She said some birds do not die instantly when shot and instead get startled in the dark and collide with things, but Pellen said that was "not true at all".

From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026

“Didn’t mean to shriek like a banshee! I was startled, is all. It was so lifelike! She’s a talented lass, isn’t she?”

From "The Hidden Gallery" by Maryrose Wood

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

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

It was startling at the time to hear those chants.

From Salon ● Aug. 30, 2026

Those startling words express the author’s passionate conviction that Africa could be the largest—and most indispensable—source of immigrants to the U.S. in the second half of the 21st century.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026

His palms were warm and rough, a startling contrast to his long, agile fingers, the fingers of a scribe or ketubah painter.

From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros