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Start vs Startle - What's the difference?

start | startle |

Startle is a synonym of start.



In transitive terms the difference between start and startle

is that start is to move suddenly from its place or position; to displace or loosen; to dislocate while startle is to excite by sudden alarm, surprise, or apprehension; to frighten suddenly and not seriously; to alarm; to surprise.

In intransitive terms the difference between start and startle

is that start is to break away, to come loose while startle is to move suddenly, or be excited, on feeling alarm; to start.

As an acronym START

is acronym of lang=en|Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.

start

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) stert, from the verb . See below.

Noun

(en noun)
  • The beginning of an activity.
  • The movie was entertaining from start to finish.
  • * Shakespeare
  • I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips, / Straining upon the start .
  • A sudden involuntary movement.
  • He woke with a start .
  • * L'Estrange
  • Nature does nothing by starts and leaps, or in a hurry.
  • * Robert Louis Stevenson, Olalla
  • The sight of his scared face, his starts and pallors and sudden harkenings, unstrung me
  • The beginning point of a race, a board game, etc.
  • An appearance in a sports game from the beginning of the match.
  • Jones has been a substitute before, but made his first start for the team last Sunday.
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2011 , date=February 12 , author=Ian Hughes , title=Arsenal 2 - 0 Wolverhampton\ , work=BBC citation , page= , passage=Wilshere, who made his first start for England in the midweek friendly win over Denmark, raced into the penalty area and chose to cross rather than shoot - one of the very few poor selections he made in the match. }}
  • A young plant germinated]] in a pot to be [[transplant, transplanted later.
  • Etymology 2

    From (etyl) . More at (l).

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (label) To begin, commence, initiate.
  • # To set in motion.
  • #* (Joseph Addison) (1672-1719)
  • I was engaged in conversation upon a subject which the people love to start in discourse.
  • #* , chapter=22
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=In the autumn there was a row at some cement works about the unskilled labour men. A union had just been started for them and all but a few joined. One of these blacklegs was laid for by a picket and knocked out of time.}}
  • # To begin.
  • #* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-19, author=(Peter Wilby)
  • , volume=189, issue=6, page=30, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Finland spreads word on schools , passage=Imagine a country where children do nothing but play until they start compulsory schooling at age seven. Then, without exception, they attend comprehensives until the age of 16. Charging school fees is illegal, and so is sorting pupils into ability groups by streaming or setting.}}
  • # (senseid)To initiate operation of a vehicle or machine.
  • # To put or raise (a question, an objection); to put forward (a subject for discussion).
  • # To bring onto being or into view; to originate; to invent.
  • #* Sir (1628–1699)
  • Sensual men agree in the pursuit of every pleasure they can start .
  • To begin an activity.
  • * , chapter=1
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=Thinks I to myself, “Sol, you're run off your course again. This is a rich man's summer ‘cottage’ 
  • To startle or be startled; to move or be moved suddenly.
  • # To jerk suddenly in surprise.
  • #* (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • But if he start , / It is the flesh of a corrupted heart.
  • #* (John Dryden) (1631-1700)
  • I start as from some dreadful dream.
  • #* (Isaac Watts) (1674-1748)
  • Keep your soul to the work when ready to start aside.
  • # To move suddenly from its place or position; to displace or loosen; to dislocate.
  • #* Wiseman
  • One, by a fall in wrestling, started the end of the clavicle from the sternum.
  • # To awaken suddenly.
  • #* (rfdate) (Mary Shelley)
  • I started from my sleep with horror
  • # To disturb and cause to move suddenly; to startle; to alarm; to rouse; to cause to flee or fly.
  • #* (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
  • Upon malicious bravery dost thou come / To start my quiet?
  • To break away, to come loose.
  • * 1749 , (John Cleland), (w) (Penguin 1985 reprint), page 66:
  • we could, with the greatest ease as well as clearness, see all objects (ourselves unseen) only by applying our eyes close to the crevice, where the moulding of a panel had warped or started a little on the other side.
  • (nautical) To pour out; to empty; to tap and begin drawing from.
  • Usage notes
    * In uses 1.1 and 1.2 this is a catenative verb that takes the infinitive (to'') or the gerund (''-ing ) form. There is no change in meaning. * For more information, see
    Antonyms
    * stop
    Derived terms
    * * starter

    See also

    * at the start * false start * for a start * get started * jump-start * start off * start on * start out * start up

    Etymology 3

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A tail, or anything projecting like a tail.
  • A handle, especially that of a plough.
  • The curved or inclined front and bottom of a water wheel bucket.
  • The arm, or level, of a gin, drawn around by a horse.
  • (Webster 1913)

    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

    *