How to Use startling in a Sentence

startling

adjective
  • It is a city of startling contrasts.
  • Startling new evidence came to light during the trial.
  • He made a startling discovery.
  • The amount of trash in June Lake was startling, West said.
    Gregory Thomas, San Francisco Chronicle, 20 Oct. 2022
  • But what was more startling was the field in the document to the right of her name.
    John Temple, The Atlantic, 24 Sep. 2022
  • The scope of the pollution has turned out to be startling.
    Rosanna Xiastaff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 4 Aug. 2022
  • The stats are startling to Chen, who is bracing for a swell of need there.
    Parija Kavilanz, CNN, 25 Oct. 2023
  • But things took a startling turn during one of the rehearsals for the show.
    Tim Chan, Rolling Stone, 28 Aug. 2022
  • In more recent years, the shift has been even more startling.
    Liam Dillonstaff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 31 May 2022
  • The film remains chaotic and startling through the end.
    Eisa Nefertari Ulen, The Hollywood Reporter, 18 Apr. 2024
  • A lot of things have happened in my life that are so startling.
    Gary Graff, Billboard, 26 Sep. 2024
  • The ratings for Clark games vs. non-Clark games have been startling.
    Alex Sherman, CNBC, 3 Oct. 2024
  • Neither team scored the rest of the half, and some of the numbers through two quarters were startling.
    Jeff Potrykus, Journal Sentinel, 1 Oct. 2022
  • The trick is to wear colors startling enough that on a gray day you won’t be mistaken for part of the hedge.
    Ellen Hawley, WSJ, 10 Nov. 2023
  • Its pace of improvement over just the past year has been startling.
    Dev Patnaik, Forbes, 10 Dec. 2023
  • But the startling thing is the 12-month gain of that index through May was only 1.2 percent.
    Jeff Sommer, New York Times, 14 July 2023
  • The longevity of old songs is an even greater mystery when what every era’s fans want is the fresh, the startling, the new.
    David Kirby, WSJ, 9 Sep. 2022
  • As the dust settles, the scale of destruction is startling.
    Jeremy Diamond, CNN, 7 July 2024
  • But the carnage Putin has already brought in Ukraine is startling.
    ABC News, 25 Sep. 2022
  • The most startling creature is the coconut crab, which grows to the size of a cat and may drop suddenly from trees.
    Cullen Murphy, The Atlantic, 15 June 2022
  • The planned 17-minute display became a startling, fiery fusillade of less than a minute.
    Michael Smolens, San Diego Union-Tribune, 5 July 2023
  • But to have something happen so close to home was startling.
    Taylor Hartz, courant.com, 28 Mar. 2022
  • All of a sudden, Jody approaches the car and knocks on the window, startling Colt.
    Hannah Dailey, Billboard, 3 May 2024
  • The clamor of the crowd must have been startling, too, as well as the commotion of bats among the oaks and hickories and the brilliance of the sky.
    Discover Magazine, 14 June 2024
  • The scene, which is quite startling even by HBO standards, lit the internet on fire.
    Ethan Shanfeld, Variety, 15 June 2022
  • Stubbs saw something startling while searching the home.
    Peter Van Sant, CBS News, 9 Dec. 2023
  • The lead levels, on the other hand, were a startling 64 to 95 times higher than the hair of someone today.
    Ari Daniel, NPR, 27 June 2024
  • This adds to the suspense and leads to very loud, startling jump scares that could be too much for some young children to handle.
    Benjamin Vanhoose, Peoplemag, 28 June 2024
  • And struggles like this develop and even flip with startling cunning.
    Seyward Darby, Longreads, 2 Oct. 2024
  • Pras’ legal action against Hill was startling and very personal, yet also very much in keeping with the bumpy, swerving musical and interpersonal ride of the Fugees.
    David Browne, Rolling Stone, 11 Oct. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'startling.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: