startle

“Sudden explosive noise, concussive blasts, and bright flashes have the potential to startle young birds, creating unnecessary risk during a critical period of development.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 24, 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

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

A strong hand closes on my arm and I startle.

From "Blood on the River" by Elisa Carbone

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

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

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

Teeth startles and then passes out, emitting his terrible stink.

From "Wayward Creatures" by Dayna Lorentz

Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s administration had been startled when Trudeau’s government discreetly asked British intelligence chiefs to start discussing how they might band together if the U.S. left Five Eyes, the U.S.-led intelligence-sharing alliance.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026

A man was startled to find a black bear in the front seat of a pickup truck in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2026

Observers were startled that, given the risks, Ali Khamenei was present in the very centre of Tehran on February 28 rather than in hiding elsewhere in the vast country.

From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026

The initial announcement of SpaceX’s bond sale had startled some investors, some of whom sold their shares.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 23, 2026

He looked startled, like she had interrupted his thoughts.

From "Caterpillar Summer" by Gillian McDunn

A mashup of a memoir, a self-help book, a personal-finance guide, a serious and startling social history of wealth and a standup comedy routine, this is one of the funniest financial books I’ve ever read.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026

They lie in mud, shells, ice and rock - fragments of evidence from a time when the Atlantic appears to have changed with startling speed.

From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026

The superior returns of what Hartnett calls the “red, white and boom,” compared with Britain, is all the more startling considering that nearly all of that came in the past century and a half.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 3, 2026

“She understood the ongoing national effort to disremember — this startling combination of dismembering and remembering — to protect the innocence of America,” Glaude says.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 2, 2026

Echi dropped down from the tree, startling the Quassia.

From "The Marvellers" by Dhonielle Clayton