Startle vs Scare - What's the difference?
startle | scare | Synonyms |
(label) To move suddenly, or be excited, on feeling alarm; to start.
* (Joseph Addison) (1672-1719)
(label) To excite by sudden alarm, surprise, or apprehension; to frighten suddenly and not seriously; to alarm; to surprise.
* (John Locke) (1632-1705)
* 1896 , (Joseph Conrad), "(An Outcast of the Islands)"
* , 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.
*{{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Michael Arlen), title=
, 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.}}
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.}}
A minor fright.
* {{quote-news
, year=2011
, date=June 4
, author=Phil McNulty
, title=England 2 - 2 Switzerland
, work=BBC
A cause of slight terror; something that inspires fear or dread.
To frighten, terrify, startle, especially in a minor way.
* (rfdate) (Shakespeare)
* (The Langoliers)
Scare is a synonym of startle.
As verbs the difference between startle and scare
is that startle is to move suddenly, or be excited, on feeling alarm; to start while scare is to frighten, terrify, startle, especially in a minor way.As nouns the difference between startle and scare
is that startle is a sudden motion or shock caused by an unexpected alarm, surprise, or apprehension of danger while scare is a minor fright.startle
English
Verb
(startl)- Why shrinks the soul / Back on herself, and startles at destruction?
- The supposition, at least, that angels do sometimes assume bodies need not startle us.
- Nothing could startle her, make her scold or make her cry. She did not complain, she did not rebel.
- (Clarendon)
“Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days, chapter=Ep./4/2
Synonyms
* (to move suddenly) start * (to excite suddenly) alarm, frighten, scare, surprise * (deter) deterDerived terms
* (l)Noun
(en noun)Derived terms
* (l) * (l)See also
* (l)Anagrams
*scare
English
Noun
(en noun)- Johnny had a bad scare last night.
citation, page= , passage=England were held to a draw after surviving a major scare against Switzerland as they were forced to come from two goals behind to earn a point in the Euro 2012 qualifier at Wembley.}}
- JM is a scare to the capitalists of this country.
Synonyms
* frightSee also
* scarecrowVerb
- Did it scare you when I said "Boo!"?
- The noise of thy crossbow / Will scare the herd, and so my shoot is lost.
- (Laurel Stevenson) Would you please be quiet? You're scaring the little girl.
- (Craig Toomey) Scaring the little girl?! Scaring the little girl?! Lady!