different between startle vs fright

English

Etymology

From Middle English startlen, stertlen, stertyllen (“to rush, stumble along”), from Old English steartlian (“to kick with the foot, struggle, stumble”), equivalent to start +? -le. Cognate with Old Norse stirtla (“to hobble, stagger”), Icelandic stirtla (“to straighten up, erect”). Compare also Middle English stertil (“hasty”). More at start.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?st??t(?)l/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?st??t(?)l/
• Rhymes: -??(?)t?l

Verb

startle (third-person singular simple present startles, present participle startling, simple past and past participle startled)

1. (intransitive) To move suddenly, or be excited, on feeling alarm; to start.

   • Why shrinks the soul / Back on herself, and startles at destruction?

2. (transitive) To excite by sudden alarm, surprise, or apprehension; to frighten suddenly and not seriously; to alarm; to surprise.

   • 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.
3. (transitive, obsolete) To deter; to cause to deviate.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Clarendon to this entry?)

Synonyms

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

Derived terms

• startling

Translations

Noun

startle (plural startles)

1. A sudden motion or shock caused by an unexpected alarm, surprise, or apprehension of danger.

Derived terms

• startler
• startlish

Translations

See also

• skittish

Anagrams

• Slatter, Stalter, Statler, rattles, slatter, starlet

English

Pronunciation

• (US) enPR: fr?t, IPA^(key): /f?a?t/
• Rhymes: -a?t
• (Canada, Northern US) IPA^(key): /f??it/

Etymology 1

From Middle English fright, furht, from Old English fryhtu, fyrhto (“fright, fear, dread, trembling, horrible sight”), from Proto-Germanic *furht?? (“fear”), from Proto-Indo-European *pr?k- (“to fear”).

Cognate with Scots fricht (“fright”), Old Frisian fruchte (“fright”), Low German frucht (“fright”), Middle Dutch vrucht, German Furcht (“fear, fright”), Danish frygt (“fear”), Swedish fruktan (“fear, fright, dread”), Gothic ???????????????????????????????? (faurhtei, “fear, horror, fright”). Compare possibly Albanian frikë (“fear, fright, dread, danger”).

Noun

fright (countable and uncountable, plural frights)

1. A state of terror excited by the sudden appearance of danger; sudden and violent fear, usually of short duration; a sudden alarm.
2. Anything strange, ugly or shocking, producing a feeling of alarm or aversion.
   • 1819, Lord Byron, Don Juan, I:

     Her maids were old, and if she took a new one,

     You might be sure she was a perfect fright;

     She did this during even her husband's life

     I recommend as much to every wife.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

fright (third-person singular simple present frights, present participle frighting, simple past and past participle frighted)

1. (archaic, transitive) To frighten.

Derived terms

• befright

Etymology 2

Probably short for affright, from Middle English afright, from Old English ?fyrht, past participle of ?fyrhtan (“to make afraid; terrify”).

Adjective

fright (comparative more fright, superlative most fright)

1. (rare) frightened; afraid; affright

Middle English

Etymology 1

Noun

fright

1. Alternative form of frith

References

• “frith, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-04.

Etymology 2

From Old English fryhtu, from earlier fyrhtu, from Proto-Germanic *furht??.

Alternative forms

• fri?t, freyhte, fyrht, furht, frigt, fry?t

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?frixt(?)/, [?friçt(?)]

Noun

fright (plural *frightes)

1. A fright or scare.

Related terms

• frighten
• frightful (rare)
• frighti (rare)
• frightly (rare)

Descendants

• English: fright
• Scots: fricht

References

• “fright, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-05.