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
McVay initially yelled and tried to make herself bigger to startle away the predator.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 25, 2026
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
Boaz could hear him call, his voice loud enough that it made Boaz startle, a near impossible feat nowadays.
From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny
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
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
Too many enjoy the heady rush of attention they get from doing or saying something that startles or provokes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2022
A flash of white startles me from my thoughts.
From "The Cruel Prince" by Holly Black
Most black bear “attacks” are actually defensive actions, and generally take place if an animal is protecting cubs, startled or scared, according to the department.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 26, 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
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
Camilla was so startled, she forgot to be seasick.
From "Secrets at Sea" by Richard Peck
It's likely to be the most significant royal book since Prince Harry's startling 2023 memoir, Spare, and Andrew Lownie's 2025 book Entitled, which doomed Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's reputation.
From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026
Now, thanks to some startling revelations about AI agents collaborating deceptively to outwit their human overlords, doomers are ascendant.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 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 clattered to the floor, startling Cecilia, who turned around to look at the mess with wide-eyed amazement.
From "Summer of the Mariposas" by Guadalupe García McCall
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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