startleverb [ T ]
uk/ˈstɑː.təl/us/ˈstɑːr.t̬əl/to do something unexpected that surprises and sometimes worries a person or animal:
She was concentrating on her book and his voice startled her.
The noise of the car startled the birds and the whole flock flew up into the air.
Her article on diet startled many people into changing their eating habits.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Surprising and shocking
- a blinding flash idiom
- a bolt from/out of the blue idiom
- amaze
- amazing
- astonish
- bolt
- breath
- dynamite
- earth-shattering
- expectation
- eye-opener
- faze
- revelation
- spring sth on sb
- staggering
- startling
- sting
- stunning
- stupefy
- thunderbolt
See more results »
startled
adjective uk/ˈstɑː.təld/us/ˈstɑːr.t̬əld/
a startled expression