Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Startled |
StartledAdjective1. Excited by sudden surprise or alarm and making a quick involuntary movement; "students startled by the teacher's quiet return"; "the sudden fluttering of the startled pigeons"; "her startled expression". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "startled" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1374. (references) |
Crosswords: Startled |
| English words defined with "startled": Crotalus ♦ genus Crotalus, Gloppen ♦ jump ♦ polecat ♦ shy, skunk, start, startle, Startlish ♦ wood pussy. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "startled": Gunpowder ♦ Skunks. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "startled": Startle. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | One startled look and I knew, I was right back where I'd started (The Last Time I Committed Suicide; writing credit: Neal Cassady; Stephen T. Kay) | |
Lyrics | Startled by the bases hittin' ground (Play that funky music; performing artist: Vanilla Ice) | |
Movie/TV Titles | The Startled Lover (1899) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | In the year 1054 A.D., Chinese astronomers were startled by the appearance of a new star, so ... Credit: NASA. |  | In "Office of recording angel" a startled angel gazes at book entry reading, "John Henry Jones, New York, N.Y., 1906 April". Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Startled Uncle Sam looking at "Cuba" woman holding a "Cuban Revolutionist" crying baby. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Tarzan. Leading his company of bowmen, Tarzan concentrated his attack upon the rifle-armed warriors who, startled into confusion ... Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Play | Caption |
 | Reaction of startled surprise; a hawk whistle when first played. |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Author | Quotation |
O. W. Holmes | A person is always startled when he hears himself called old for the first time. |
Ralph Waldo Emerson | A chief event of life is the day in which we have encountered a mind that startled us. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Through the Looking-Glass | Carroll, Lewis | Startled as she was, Alice was more frightened for him than for herself at the moment, and watched him with some anxiety as he mounted again |
Life, the Universe and Everything | Douglas Adams | Arthur lay in startled stillness on the acceleration couch |
Scarlet Letter | Hawthorne, Nathaniel | In truth, he was startled, if not shocked, to find this attribute in the physician |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | This history on which he had now cast his eyes, startled him. |
Grapes of Wrath | Steinbeck, John | Startled sleepy eyes looked out at her. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | Many also experience sudden muscle contractions called hypnic myoclonia, often preceded by a sensation of starting to fall. These sudden movements are similar to the "jump" we make when startled. (references) | |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | GUNPOWDER, n. An agency employed by civilized nations for the settlement of disputes which might become troublesome if left unadjusted. By most writers the invention of gunpowder is ascribed to the Chinese, but not upon very convincing evidence. Milton says it was invented by the devil to dispel angels with, and this opinion seems to derive some support from the scarcity of angels. Moreover, it has the hearty concurrence of the Hon. James Wilson, Secretary of Agriculture. Secretary Wilson became interested in gunpowder through an event that occurred on the Government experimental farm in the District of Columbia. One day, several years ago, a rogue imperfectly reverent of the Secretary's profound attainments and personal character presented him with a sack of gunpowder, representing it as the sed of the Flashawful flabbergastor, a Patagonian cereal of great commercial value, admirably adapted to this climate. The good Secretary was instructed to spill it along in a furrow and afterward inhume it with soil. This he at once proceeded to do, and had made a continuous line of it all the way across a ten-acre field, when he was made to look backward by a shout from the generous donor, who at once dropped a lighted match into the furrow at the starting-point. Contact with the earth had somewhat dampened the powder, but the startled functionary saw himself pursued by a tall moving pillar of fire and smoke and fierce evolution. He stood for a moment paralyzed and speechless, then he recollected an engagement and, dropping all, absented himself thence with such surprising celerity that to the eyes of spectators along the route selected he appeared like a long, dim streak prolonging itself with inconceivable rapidity through seven villages, and audibly refusing to be comforted. "Great Scott! what is that?" cried a surveyor's chainman, shading his eyes and gazing at the fading line of agriculturist which bisected his visible horizon. "That," said the surveyor, carelessly glancing at the phenomenon and again centering his attention upon his instrument, "is the Meridian of Washington." H |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Startled" is generally used as a lexical verb (past participle) -- approximately 33.79% of the time. "Startled" is used about 727 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Lexical Verb (past participle) | 33.79% | 246 | 19,009 |
| Lexical Verb (past tense) | 32.55% | 237 | 19,467 |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 27.47% | 200 | 21,580 |
| Noun (proper) | 6.18% | 45 | 50,900 |
| Total | 100.00% | 727 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "startled": be startled ♦ easily startled ♦ Startled easily. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
startled | 3 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "startled"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Arabic | مندهش (amazed, astonished, astounding, flabbergasted, surprised), مروع (alarmed, appalling, awful, dreadful, frightened, frightening, frightful, ghastly, grisly, gruesome, horrible, horrific, horrified, horrifying, macabre, panic stricken, scared, shocked, shocking, startling, terrified, terrifying, terror stricken, terrorized), مشدوه (amazed, astonished, astounded, flabbergasted, puzzled, shocked, stunned, thunderstruck, wonder struck), جافل. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | подплашвам се (be scared, be startled, start). (various references) | |
Chinese | 瞿 , 憮 (disappointed), 愕 . (various references) | |
Dutch | geschrokken (aghast). (various references) | |
Esperanto | terurita, teruriĝinta, ektiminta, ektimigita. (various references) | |
Finnish | pelästynyt (frightened, scared), hätääntynyt (alarmed, anxious). (various references) | |
French | surpris, effarouché. (various references) | |
German | schreckte auf, aufgeschreckt (alarmed, scared). (various references) | |
Hebrew | מופתע (amazed, astonished, surprised, taken aback), מורתע (deterred, taken aback), משומם (appalled, appalling), פעם (excited, moved, pulsating, thrilled, tumultuous). (various references) | |
Hungarian | riadt (afraid, fearsome), ijedt (be scared, frightened, scared, scary). (various references) | |
Indonesian | tersentak, kejut (frightened, scared), kaget (frightened, staggered, surprised, upset), cingangah (surprised). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 魂消る (to be appalled, to be astonished, to be startled). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | ぎょっと (being startled), たま'る (to be appalled, to be astonished, to be startled), どきり (feeling shocked or startled). (various references) | |
Manx | currit er moostey. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | artledstay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | assustado (afraid, frightened, jumpy, scared, scary, shy). (various references) | |
Russian | пугать;поражать изумленный. (various references) | |
Spanish | sorprendido (astonished, shocked, surprised), sobresaltado, espantado (aghast, frightened, scared), asustado (afraid, frightened, scared). (various references) | |
Swedish | uppskrämd, förfärad. (various references) | |
Turkish | şaşıp kalmak (be nonplused). (various references) | |
Turkmen | geсirgenmek (be surprised). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Misspellings | |
"Startled" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: stardle, stratle. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "startled" (pronounced stÄ"rtuld) |
| 5 | -r t u l d | chortled. |
| 4 | -t u l d | battled, belittled, bottled, disgruntled, dismantled, embattled, entitled, mottled, nettled, rattled, resettled, scuttled, settled, shuttled, subtitled, tattled, throttled, titled, totaled, totalled, unsettled, whittled. |
| 3 | -u l d | addled, ambled, angled, annulled, assembled, babbled, backpedaled, baffled, barreled, bedeviled, bedraggled, befuddled, bespectacled, bevelled, bicycled, boggled, bridled, bristled, bubbled, buckled, bundled, bungled, cabled, canceled, cancelled, channeled, chiseled, chronicled, chuckled, circled, cobbled, coddled, commingled, corbelled, counseled, coupled, crackled, credentialed, crippled, crumbled, crumpled, cuddled, cycled, dabbled, dangled, dazzled, dialed, dibbled, dimpled, disabled, disassembled, jangled, jostled, juggled, jumbled, kindled, knuckled, labeled, labelled, ladled, leveled, levelled, libeled, disheveled, doubled, dribbled, dueled, dwindled, embezzled, emerald, empaneled, enabled, enameled, encircled, enfeebled, entangled, equaled, fabled, fiddled, fizzled, flanneled, fondled, frazzled, freckled, fueled, fuelled, fumbled, funneled, gambled, garbled, giggled, gobbled, grappled, grizzled, grumbled, haggled, handled, hassled, heckled, Herald, hobbled, huddled, humbled, hustled, idled, impaneled, imperiled, initialed, intermingled, mangled, manhandled, marbled, marshaled, marshalled, marveled, mingled, mishandled, mislabeled, modeled, muddled, muffled, mumbled, muscled, muzzled, needled, nestled, newfangled, nibbled, ogled, paddled, paneled, parceled, pedaled, pedalled, peddled, penciled, peopled, pickled, principled, pummeled, puzzled, quadrupled, quarreled, quintupled, rambled, rankled, raveled, reassembled, recycled, redoubled, refueled, rekindled, remodeled, resembled, reshuffled, reveled, riddled, rifled, rippled, rivaled, ruffled, rumbled, rumpled, saddled, sampled, scaffold, scrambled, scribbled, scuffled, shackled, shoveled, shriveled, shuffled, signaled, signalled, singled, sizzled, smuggled, snarled, spangled, sparkled, speckled, spiraled, sprinkled, squabbled, squirreled, stapled, stenciled, stifled, straddled, straggled, strangled, struggled, stumbled, swindled, tabled, tackled, tangled, tasseled, tickled, tinkled, toggled, toppled, trampled, traveled, travelled, trebled, trembled, trickled, tripled, troubled, trundled, tumbled, tussled, unbridled, unlabeled, unprincipled, unraveled, unrivaled, unruffled, unshackled, untrammeled, untroubled, waffled, wangled, whistled, widdled, wobbled, wrangled, wrestled, wrinkled. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-d-e-l-r-s-t-t" | |
-1 letter: dartles, rattled, rattles, slatted, starlet, started, startle, tetrads. | |
-2 letters: alders, alerts, alters, artels, dartle, daters, deltas, derats, desalt, estral, laders, lasted, laster, latest, latter, lattes, ratels, ratted, rattle, salted, salter, slated, slater, staled, staler, stared, stated, stater, stelar, talers, tarted, tasted, taster, taters, tetrad, tetras, trades, treads, treats. | |
-3 letters: alder, alert, alter, arles. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-d-e-l-r-s-t-t" | |
+1 letter: lustrated, sprattled. | |
+2 letters: sandlotter, splattered, stridulate, translated. | |
+3 letters: adulterants, adulterates, gastrulated, illustrated, laundrettes, letterheads, sandlotters, stadtholder, straitlaced, stridulated, stridulates, tetraploids, turtleheads, wattlebirds, wildcatters. | |
+4 letters: abstractedly, adulterators, detrimentals, dilatometers, distractable, distractedly, distractible, editorialist, interstadial, launderettes, pterodactyls, restimulated, retranslated, stadtholders, strangulated, stringhalted, translocated, transplanted, untranslated. | |
+5 letters: adulterations, battlegrounds, dermatologist, dilatometries, disarticulate, editorialists, fluidextracts, flutterboards, interstadials, melodramatist, mistranslated, multistranded, sacerdotalist, softheartedly, straightlaced, straitlacedly, tetraploidies, traditionless, transvaluated, ultradistance, understatedly. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Crosswords 3. Usage: Modern 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Slideshow 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Sounds 8. Quotations: Familiar | 9. Quotations: Fiction 10. Quotations: Non-fiction 11. Usage Frequency 12. Expressions | 13. Expressions: Internet 14. Translations: Modern 15. Derivations 16. Rhymes | 17. Anagrams 18. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
