startle

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An uneasy feeling came to Philip that possibly the whole story was an elaborate imposture, not told with any base motive, but merely from a wish to impress, startle, and amaze.

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Definitions (18)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (4)

  1. transitive verb To cause to make a quick involuntary movement or start.
  2. transitive verb To alarm, frighten, or surprise suddenly. See Synonyms at frighten.
  3. intransitive verb To become alarmed, frightened, or surprised.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (8)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (3)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (3)

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Examples (50)

  • Mother of the Believers that will startle, and perhaps anger, non-Muslims as well. —  altmuslim
  • She would startle, as if something scared her, but there was nothing there. —  we move to canada
  • But there are many aspects of "Mother of the Believers" that will startle, and perhaps anger, non-Muslims as well.
  • Then the doctor stuck the scissors in the back of his head, and the baby's arms jerked out, like a startle reaction, like a flinch, like a baby does when he thinks he is going to fall .... —  Top Stories - Google News
  • Like many others, Hladecek has searched exhaustively for a ring sound for his phone that wouldn't "annoy, startle or embarrass in public or meetings." —  Press Releases
 

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This word has been looked up 110 times.

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Suggestions Wordniks Suggest

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

extraordinary ·  astonish ·  unexpected ·  terrify ·  vivid ·  bizarre ·  ominous ·  definite

Used in the same contextWord Family

startle:   startling ·  startled
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English stertlen, to run about, from Old English steartlian, to kick; see ster-1 in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Middle English startlen, stertlen, stertyllen; freq. of start.
  2. from startle, v.
 

Pronunciations
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/ˈstɑrtl/
by American Heritage

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