STARTLE in a Sentence

Learn STARTLE from example sentences; some of them are from classic books. These examples are selected from a corpus with 300,000 sentences, including classic works and current mainstream media. Some sentences also link to their contexts.

220 example sentences for STARTLE, such as:

1. I didn't mean to startle you.
2. You startled me I didn't hear you come in.
3. It startled me to find her sitting in my office.
4. Scarlett was so startled she could not even move.
5. Paddy's words had a startling effect on the children.

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 Meanings and Examples of STARTLE
Definition Example Sentence Classic Sentence
startle
 v.  move suddenly, or be excited; excite by sudden alarm, surprise
Classic Sentence: (206 in 14 pages)
1  Mrs. Dorset might startle or dazzle him, but she had neither the skill nor the patience to effect his capture.
House of Mirth By Edith Wharton
Context  Highlight   In BOOK 1: Chapter 3
2  The words, and the movement which accompanied them, combined to startle Lily out of the state of tranced subservience into which she had insensibly slipped.
House of Mirth By Edith Wharton
Context  Highlight   In BOOK 2: Chapter 7
3  He beckoned to the little boy they called Jan, whispered to him, and presented him with a paper snake, gently, so as not to startle him.
My Antonia By Willa Cather
Context  Highlight   In BOOK 5. Cuzak's Boys: II
4  It was a relief to get out of the room where the night had been so miserable, and I needed no second knocking at the door to startle me from my uneasy bed.
Great Expectations By Charles Dickens
Context  Highlight   In Chapter XLV
5  But when Rowena spoke, the sound of her voice seemed to startle him from his silence.
Ivanhoe By Walter Scott
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER V
6  On them, while the beaters run up and down, and the lawns are girt with toils, will I pour down a blackening rain-cloud mingled with hail, and startle all the sky in thunder.
The Aeneid By Virgil
Context  Highlight   In BOOK FOURTH
7  He had supposed her to be asleep, and the sound of her voice had startled him, though she was given to abrupt explosions of speech after long intervals of secretive silence.
Ethan Frome By Edith Wharton
Context  Highlight   In I
8  As she had intended, Gerald was startled by the sound; then he recognized her, and a look both sheepish and defiant came over his florid face.
Gone With The Wind By Margaret Mitche
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER II
9  So, James and Andrew were as startled as anyone when the news came out that the daughter of Pierre Robillard was to marry the little Irishman from up the country.
Gone With The Wind By Margaret Mitche
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER III
10  The girls' faces turned to her, startled and questioning, and Gerald wagged his head philosophically.
Gone With The Wind By Margaret Mitche
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER IV
11  There was a startled silence and then the buzzing broke out again.
Gone With The Wind By Margaret Mitche
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER VI
12  Nothing had ever startled or frightened her so much, and her mouth went too dry for her to utter a sound.
Gone With The Wind By Margaret Mitche
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER VI
13  The reality was the blushing Charles, emerging from her dressing room in his nightshirt, avoiding the startled look she gave him over the high-pulled sheet.
Gone With The Wind By Margaret Mitche
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER VII
14  Scarlett was so startled she could not even move.
Gone With The Wind By Margaret Mitche
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER IX
15  But in that first startled moment she did not feel insulted.
Gone With The Wind By Margaret Mitche
Context  Highlight   In CHAPTER XIX
Example Sentence:
1  Even the least noise would still startle the timid child.
2  I didn't mean to startle you.
3  She was concentrating on her book and his voice startled her.
4  The students began to enter the classroom and Anna was startled at their loudness.
5  You startled me I didn't hear you come in.
6  It startled me to find her sitting in my office.
7  She was a little startled by seeing the Cheshire Cat sitting on a bough of a tree a few yards off.
8  Macbeth was startled when the witches greeted him with an incorrect appellation. Why did they call him Thane of Cawdor, he wondered, when the holder of that title still lived?.
9  Remaining motionless is their best defense, but when startled, snowshoes rely on their long, powerful hind legs to run away from danger.
10  A researcher a year ago published startling research showing that the drug commonly known as ecstasy can cause Parkinson's-like brain damage.
11  It was startling to see the spirit of nationalism resurge as the Soviet Union disintegrated into a loose federation of ethnic and national groups.
12  A startling cultural transformation occurred in post - war Britain.
13  Paddy's words had a startling effect on the children.
14  Jesus taught that life does not end after our bodies die. He made this startling claim: I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die like everyone else, will live again.