startle reaction

1. 1.

   a complicated involuntary reaction to a sudden unexpected stimulus (especially a loud noise); involves flexion of most skeletal muscles and a variety of visceral reactions

   Synonymsstartle response

   Broaderstartle

Questions about startle reaction

What does startle reaction mean?

startle reaction means "a complicated involuntary reaction to a sudden unexpected stimulus (especially a loud noise); involves flexion of most skeletal muscles and a variety of visceral reactions".

What is another word for startle reaction?

Close synonyms include startle response. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is startle reaction a common word?

startle reaction is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.