startle
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.
See Examples For:
Researchers think these markings may help startle predators.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 30, 2026
It triggers an automatic "startle response" to any loud noise.
From BBC ● Apr. 9, 2026
Few people who have been on the national stage this long retain an ability to startle.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 24, 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
Daw? he says, laughing loud enough to startle the few kids in the lunchroom who weren’t paying attention.
From "Booked" by Kwame Alexander
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
Her very English outrage startles him from his role as an Israeli Defense Forces soldier “defending my people” and into that of a teenager defending himself against accusations of being from Manchester.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 4, 2023
Haymitch startles me when he lays a hand on my back.
From "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins
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
"I was startled awake and immediately went to my child's room," he said.
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 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
From behind, a deep rumbling startled all three of them.
From "Half Upon a Time" by James Riley
She had a knack for startling images: “a Face of Steel,” a life standing like “a Loaded Gun.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
Given that a robot recently beat Usain Bolt's 100m sprint record, it's not the most startling achievement.
From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026
The chain told customers that the affected Taylor Farms lettuce had been removed and invited them, with almost startling confidence, to come back.
From Salon ● Sep. 13, 2026
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
She swallowed the last drop of coffee and got up from her stool brusquely, startling Alicia, who reached her arms out to me and clung to my neck the minute she was close enough.
From "When I Was Puerto Rican" by Esmeralda Santiago
Vocabulary lists containing startle
"All Summer in a Day" by Ray Bradbury
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"The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet," Vocabulary from Act 5
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The Circuit
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