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Recoil vs Startle - What's the difference?

recoil | startle |

As nouns the difference between recoil and startle

is that recoil is a starting or falling back; a rebound; a shrinking while startle is a sudden motion or shock caused by an unexpected alarm, surprise, or apprehension of danger.

As verbs the difference between recoil and startle

is that recoil is to retreat before an opponent while startle is to move suddenly, or be excited, on feeling alarm; to start.

recoil

English

(wikipedia recoil)

Noun

(en noun)
  • A starting or falling back; a rebound; a shrinking.
    • the recoil of nature, or of the blood
  • The state or condition of having recoiled.
  • * F. W. Robertson
    • The recoil from formalism is skepticism.
  • (firearms) The amount of energy transmitted back to the shooter from a firearm which has fired. Recoil is a function of the weight of the weapon, the weight of the projectile, and the speed at which it leaves the muzzle.

    • Verb

  • * 1596 , (Edmund Spenser), The Faerie Queene , V.11:
    • that rude rout
  • (obsolete) To retire, withdraw.
  • * 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , I.x:
    • Ye both forwearied be: therefore a whyle / Iread you rest, and to your bowres recoyle .
  • * Milton
    • Evil on itself shall back recoil .
  • * De Quincey
    • The solemnity of her demeanor made it impossible that we should recoil into our ordinary spirits.
  • To pull back, especially in disgust, horror or astonishment.
    • He recoiled in disgust when he saw the mess.
    (Shakespeare)

    Derived terms

    * recoil on

    Anagrams

    *

    startle

    English

    Verb

    (startl)
  • (label) To move suddenly, or be excited, on feeling alarm; to start.
  • * (Joseph Addison) (1672-1719)
    • Why shrinks the soul / Back on herself, and startles at destruction?
  • (label) To excite by sudden alarm, surprise, or apprehension; to frighten suddenly and not seriously; to alarm; to surprise.
  • * (John Locke) (1632-1705)
    • The supposition, at least, that angels do sometimes assume bodies need not startle us.
  • * 1896 , (Joseph Conrad), "(An Outcast of the Islands)"
    • Nothing could startle her, make her scold or make her cry. She did not complain, she did not rebel.
  • * , title=Say Cheese and Die, Again!
    • , passage=The high voice in the night air startled me. Without thinking, I started to run. Then stopped. I spun around, my heart heaving against my chest. And saw a boy. About my age.}}
  • To deter; to cause to deviate.
    • (Clarendon)
  • *{{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Michael Arlen), title= “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days, chapter=Ep./4/2
    • , passage=As they turned into Hertford Street they startled a robin from the poet's head on a barren fountain, and he fled away with a cameo note.}}

    Synonyms

    * (to move suddenly) start * (to excite suddenly) alarm, frighten, scare, surprise * (deter) deter

    Derived terms

    * (l)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A sudden motion or shock caused by an unexpected alarm, surprise, or apprehension of danger.
  • * {{quote-book
    • , year=1845 , author=George Hooker Colton, James Davenport Whelpley , title=The American review , chapter=1 , passage=The figure of a man heaving in sight amidst these wide solitudes, always causes a startle and thrill of expectation and doubt, similar to the feeling produced by the announcement of " a strange sail ahead" on shipboard, during a long voyage.}}

    Derived terms

    * (l) * (l)

    See also

    * (l)

    Anagrams

    *