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:
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
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
The researchers wondered, then, whether the toe taps were a form of vibrational signaling where the frogs used it as a way to startle or distract the prey before they fed.
From Science Daily ● May 28, 2024
Her eyes seemed to be closed so we approached carefully, to not startle her.
From "Gone Crazy in Alabama" by Rita Williams-Garcia
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
But it’s Lindsey’s James who startles the play out its predictable maneuvers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 17, 2023
When something startles the flightless birds, they can be seen sprinting around the edges of their enclosures, flailing their long necks around.
From Seattle Times ● May 5, 2022
An aide steps out from the room across the hall and startles me.
From "Merci Suárez Changes Gears" by Meg Medina
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 Pineapple” promised to be intense, but even hours before the show had begun, it had me startled.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 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
It made Penelope drowsy, and when the driver shouted and pulled the troika swiftly and hard to the rutted edge of the road, it startled her into a yelp.
From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood
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
If, at 82 years old, he’s considering his legacy, he’s also still spilling out new ideas at a startling pace, sometimes in new ensembles—the one heard on last year’s “Listen Ship” included six guitarists.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
Having grown up with this in our ears, it's startling to realize that other countries have nationalistic slogans of their own, none of which are "We're number two!"
From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris
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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