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:
They then measured how the mice responded using a modified auditory startle test.
From Science Daily ● May 15, 2026
McVay initially yelled and tried to make herself bigger to startle away the predator.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 25, 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
He figured if someone snuck up to the house and looked in on him, he could pretty well startle whoever it was into a faint.
From "Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy" by Gary D. Schmidt
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
“They’re a bit of a nuisance, especially if one takes off from a bush next to people and startles them,” Knight said.
From Seattle Times ● May 3, 2024
But it’s Lindsey’s James who startles the play out its predictable maneuvers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 17, 2023
As a frightened bird caught inside a house startles one person after another, the news stirs up the servants and nuns alike.
From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein
“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
While holding Gnocchi, a large street cleaning truck whipped down the street and startled him into clawing away.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 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
Chalong then left the scene, and phoned a startled journalist he knew who was in the middle of a live broadcast on YouTube, to tell her what had happened.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
I was so startled I could barely find my words but, before I could say anything, she apologized.
From "Code Name Kingfisher" by Liz Kessler
Aerial reporters possess a peculiar intimacy with listeners, their voices and visuals filling cars and houses with their personalities as well as useful, even startling, real-time information.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026
During Friday’s 9/11 commemorations, it was startling to realize that one-third of the American population today wasn’t born when it happened.
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
Airlink's flying feat divided opinion with some labelling the startling manoeuvre reckless, while others praised the precision and expertise on display.
From BBC ● Sep. 2, 2026
We stood a moment in silence before Connor barked, startling me.
From "Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus" by Dusti Bowling
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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