Past tense of startle
regular verb
The past tense of startle is startled. The past participle is also startled.
Forms of startle
| Base form (V1) | startle /ˈstɑːt(ə)l/ |
|---|---|
| Past tense (V2) | startled /ˈstɑɹt.l̩d/ |
| Past participle (V3) | startled /ˈstɑɹt.l̩d/ |
| Present participle | startling /ˈstɑɹ.tl̩.ɪŋ/ |
| Third person singular | startles |
Startled in a sentence
- The high voice in the night air startled me.1997, R. L. Stine, Say Cheese and Die, Again!
- 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.1922, Michael Arlen, “Ep./4/2”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days
- I was startled by the whip of the rope when it finally snapped.From the entry whip
- The lizard's immediate flight when startled makes it hard to catch.From the entry flight
- Startled, the wood pigeon flew off, its wings flapping noisily.From the entry flap
Meaning of startle
- verb To move suddenly, or be excited, on feeling alarm; to start.
- verb To excite by sudden alarm, surprise, or apprehension; to frighten suddenly and not seriously; to alarm; to surprise.
- verb To deter; to cause to deviate.
Questions about the past tense of startle
- What is the past tense of startle?
- The past tense of startle is startled.
- What is the past participle of startle?
- The past participle of startle is startled.
- Is startle a regular or irregular verb?
- Startle is a regular verb: its past tense adds -d.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: startle (page history and authors) and the entries of its forms. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws left out forms marked obsolete, archaic, rare or dialectal and added the examples. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this page: “Past tense of startle.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/past-tense/startle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.