startle
Example Sentences
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Rather than attempting to lure the animals toward the speaker, the researchers played the sounds loudly enough to provoke a startle response.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 30, 2026
Percussion instruments—including a whistle and slap-stick—interrupt and startle.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 24, 2026
It triggers an automatic "startle response" to any loud noise.
From BBC ● Apr. 9, 2026
McVay initially yelled and tried to make herself bigger to startle away the predator.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 25, 2026
“I didn’t mean to startle you like that. I just wanted to make sure someone was up so I wouldn’t be disturbing the household by knocking.”
From "Out of Darkness" by Ashley Hope Pérez
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
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
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
The speed with which she moves on startles me, but I'm so relieved to avoid an awkward conversation that I, too, pretend nothing has happened.
From "An Ember in the Ashes" by Sabaa Tahir
“I was really startled by it. It just kind of came in this wave, and then it just grew from there.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026
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
Still, Clare shrieked, startled by the spirit’s appearance.
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
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 shift is ordinary and still somehow startling.
From Salon ● Sep. 8, 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
“It’s something I’ve always admired about you,” Frankie said, startling me.
From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros
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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