Meaning

3 senses

  1. (intransitive)To move suddenly, or be excited, on feeling alarm; to start.

    a horse that startles easily

    aufschrecken, scheuen

    встрепенутьсяvstrepenutʹsja

    move or jump suddenly, as if in surprise or alarm

  2. (transitive)To excite by sudden alarm, surprise, or apprehension; to frighten suddenly and not seriously; to alarm; to surprise.

    erschrecken

    пуга́тьpugátʹ, испуга́тьispugátʹ, напуга́тьnapugátʹ

    зляка́тиzljakáty

  3. (obsolete, transitive)To deter; to cause to deviate.

Examples

148 sentences

  1. I'm sorry if I startled you.

    Перепрошую, якщо я тебе налякав.

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  2. She startled him.

    Вона його налякала.

    ruОна напугала его.

    deSie erschreckte ihn.

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  3. Tom startled Mary.

    Том злякав Мері.

    ruТом напугал Мэри.

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  4. What startled Tom?

    Що налякало Тома?

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  5. We were startled by the explosion.

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Translations

7 languages
Українська
By meaning 1
to excite by sudden alarm, surprise, or apprehension:
Русский
By meaning 2
to move or be excited on feeling alarm:
to excite by sudden alarm, surprise, or apprehension:
Deutsch
By meaning 2
to move or be excited on feeling alarm:
to excite by sudden alarm, surprise, or apprehension:

Origin

From Middle English startlen, stertlen, stertyllen (“to rush, stumble along”), from Old En

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.

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

startles, startling, startled, startled
Base formstartle · to startle
3rd person singularstartles
Present participlestartling
Past simplestartled
Past participlestartled

regular · Lesson

Present simpleLesson

I, you, we, theystartle
he, she, itstartles

Past simpleLesson

all personsstartled

Present perfectLesson

I, you, we, theyhave startled
he, she, ithas startled

Future simple (will)Lesson

all personswill startle

Synonyms

9 synonyms
to move suddenly:startA1
to excite suddenly:alarmB1frightenA2scareB1surpriseB1
deter:deter
Close in meaning

Word family

5 related words
DerivedstartlingC1startledstartlementstartle upupstartle

Lessons for this word

3 lessons

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
startA1starterstartupstarvationB2starveB2stash
startle — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto