startle
[verb]
Synonyms: surprise, frighten, make (someone) jump, scare, shock

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Related Idioms: make one jump out of one's skin, scare the pants off
Related Words: astonish, surprise

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English Thesaurus: fear, terror, fright, panic, alarm, ...

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

start‧le /ˈstɑːtl $ ˈstɑːrtl/ verb [transitive]
[Language: Old English; Origin: steartlian 'to kick your legs about']
to make someone suddenly surprised or slightly shocked:
Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.
be startled to do something
I was startled to see Amanda.
—startled adjective:
a startled expression

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

fear a feeling of being frightened:
He was trembling with fear.
Fear of failure should not stop you trying.
terror a feeling of great fear, because you think that something terrible is about to happen:
She let out a scream of pure terror.
fright a sudden feeling of fear, or a situation that makes you feel this:
My body was shaking with fright.
You gave me a fright!
He’s had a bit of fright, that’s all.
panic a sudden feeling of fear or nervousness that makes you unable to think clearly or behave sensibly:
She was in such a panic that she hardly knew what she was doing!
There were scenes of sheer panic immediately following the bomb blast.
alarm a feeling of fear or worry which shows in your voice or behaviour, because you think something bad might happen:
When I mentioned her name, he looked up at me in alarm.
The streets were calm and there was no sign of alarm.
foreboding /fɔːˈbəʊdɪŋ $ fɔːrˈboʊ-/ a feeling that something bad or unpleasant might happen although there is no obvious reason why it should:
She felt the same sense of foreboding she had before her father died.
phobia /ˈfəʊbiə $ ˈfoʊ-/ a permanent strong unreasonable fear of something:
I had a phobia about going to the dentist.
frighten to make someone feel afraid:
The thought of being in court frightened him.
scare especially spoken to frighten someone. Scare is less formal than frighten, and is the usual word to use in everyday English:
He was driving fast just to scare us.
It scared him to think that his mother might never recover.
terrify to make someone feel extremely frightened:
The idea of going down into the caves terrified her.
Robbers terrified bank staff by threatening them at gunpoint.
give somebody a fright to make someone suddenly feel frightened in a way that makes their heart beat more quickly:
It gave me a terrible fright when I found him unconscious on the floor.
give somebody the creeps if a person or place gives you the creeps, they make you feel slightly frightened because they are strange:
This house gives me the creeps.
startle to frighten someone. Used when you suddenly see someone and did not know they were there, or when you suddenly hear something:
I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.
The noise startled him, and he dropped his glass on the floor.
intimidate to deliberately frighten someone, especially so that they will do what you want:
Many of the gangs were using dogs to intimidate people.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲

frighten to make someone feel afraid:
The thought of being in court frightened him.
scare especially spoken to frighten someone. Scare is less formal than frighten, and is the usual word to use in everyday English:
He was driving fast just to scare us.
It scared him to think that his mother might never recover.
terrify to make someone feel extremely frightened:
The idea of going down into the caves terrified her.
Robbers terrified bank staff by threatening them at gunpoint.
give somebody a fright to make someone suddenly feel frightened in a way that makes their heart beat more quickly:
It gave me a terrible fright when I found him unconscious on the floor.
give somebody the creeps if a person or place gives you the creeps, they make you feel slightly frightened because they are strange:
This house gives me the creeps.
startle to frighten someone. Used when you suddenly see someone and did not know they were there, or when you suddenly hear something:
I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.
The noise startled him, and he dropped his glass on the floor.
alarm to make someone feel frightened and worried that something bad might happen:
I didn’t want to alarm her by calling in the middle of the night.
intimidate to deliberately frighten someone, especially so that they will do what you want:
Many of the gangs were using dogs to intimidate people.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲

surprise to make someone feel surprised, especially because they did not expect something:
Her reaction surprised me – I didn’t realize how strongly she felt.
What surprised me was how cheap everything was compared to at home.
amaze to greatly surprise someone, for example because something is very good, unusual, or hard to believe:
He amazed everyone with his skill.
It amazes me that no one has thought of the idea before.
astonish to greatly surprise someone:
Myra astonished her doctors by recovering so quickly.
astound to greatly surprise or shock someone. Astound sounds a little more formal and a little stronger than astonish:
What astounded him was their inefficiency.
take somebody by surprise to happen at an unexpected time, so that people are surprised or unprepared:
Security men were taken by surprise as the man ran onto the stage.
His resignation took us by surprise.
startle to make someone feel surprised or slightly frightened by doing something they did not expect:
The wind made the door shut with a crash, which startled her.
Sudden movements may startle the horse.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲