startle means A sudden motion or shock caused by an unexpected alarm, surprise, or apprehension of danger. It carries an Arena rating of 1529, earned across 4 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, startle ranks #308 of 17,142 for Most Ingenious Words, #1,009 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #1,132 of 17,127 for Most Vivid Words, #1,202 of 42,762 for Qualifying.
startle is pronounced /ˈstɑːt(ə)l/.
Why “startle” is a great word
To cause a sudden, involuntary movement or shock of surprise, alarm, or apprehension. From Middle English startlen, stertlen, stertyllen ("to rush, stumble"), from Old English steartlian ("to kick, struggle, stumble"), a frequentative verb formed from start (in the sense "to leap, jump") + the suffix -le. Unlike "frighten," which implies a lingering dread, or "astonish," which speaks to a mind arrested by wonder, "startle" is the brief, physical punctuation of the expected. It is the spasm of a hand at a backfire, the caught breath when a shadow moves, the whole frame flinching from a door slamming shut in an empty house—a primitive, muscular grammar for the unexpected, a reflex that bypasses thought and leaves only the aftershock of a heart that has briefly forgotten its rhythm.
Etymology
From Middle English startlen, stertlen, stertyllen (“to rush, stumble along”), from Old English steartlian (“to kick with the foot, struggle, stumble”), equivalent to start + -le. Cognate with Old Norse stirtla (“to hobble, stagger”), Icelandic stirtla (“to straighten up, erect”). Compare also Middle English stertil (“hasty”). More at start.
noun
- A sudden motion or shock caused by an unexpected alarm, surprise, or apprehension of danger.
verb
- To move suddenly, or be excited, on feeling alarm; to start.e.g.“a horse that startles easily”
- To excite by sudden alarm, surprise, or apprehension; to frighten suddenly and not seriously; to alarm; to surprise.e.g.“The supposition, at least, that angels do sometimes assume bodies need not startle us.” — 1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], →OCLC:
- To deter; to cause to deviate.e.g.“it would blast all their hopes, and startle all other princes from joining” — 1660, Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, The Life of Edward Earl of Clarendon, Lord High Chancellor of England:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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