startle

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

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

I startle, not sure I heard him right.

From "The Cruel Prince" by Holly Black

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

When finally you see it, however, the pose chosen for the portrait startles.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 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

The sound of the cannon startles me, although it makes little impression on my sleeping companions.

From "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins

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

Laila Emamjoneh, 24, who sat beside her sister and brother-in-law, was startled at the outburst for New Zealand among a group of mostly Iranians.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2026

A 2012 self-portrait shows a startled, wan Mr. Hockney unhappily staring at the viewer as if we’ve just interrupted a rare moment of peace; it’s a radical departure from his usually cheery depictions of himself.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026

Rowan, red-faced and startled, found the eyes of the villagers upon him.

From "Rowan of Rin" by Emily Rodda

The fall of Brendan Rodgers, and Dermot Desmond's startling evisceration of a celebrated manager, could only be rivalled if Celtic's major shareholder suddenly takes a flamethrower to his relationship with O'Neill.

From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026

The bat fell onto a table at the Yellow Deli in Vista, startling patrons.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026

Bill Nguyen, a Silicon Valley veteran who recently founded an AI voice startup called Olive, used a startling 774 billion tokens in the last month and a half, mostly for his personal use, he said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026

The evidence for this startling conclusion comes from the most significant opinion study you’ve never read or read about.

From Salon ● Jul. 5, 2026

They entered the church by the sanctuary door, startling the sacristan who slept and ate in a small room off the entrance porch.

From "The Door in the Wall" by Marguerite de Angeli