startling

1. 1.

   so remarkably different or sudden as to cause momentary shock or alarm

   “Sydney's startling new Opera House”

   “startling news”

   “startling earthquake shocks”

   Similarsurprising

Other forms of startling

comparative

startlinger·

superlative

startlingest·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about startling

What does startling mean?

startling means "so remarkably different or sudden as to cause momentary shock or alarm".

How many syllables are in startling?

startling has 2 syllables: start-ling. The stress falls on "start". In IPA it is /ˈstɑɹtlɪŋ/.

Is startling a common word?

startling is banded "Familiar" — widely understood, used when the subject calls for it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.