Difference between Startled and Surprised

What is the difference between Startled and Surprised?

Startled as a verb is to move suddenly, or be excited, on feeling alarm; to start. while Surprised as a verb is to cause (someone) to feel unusually alarmed or delighted by something unexpected.

Startled

Part of speech: verb

Definition: To move suddenly, or be excited, on feeling alarm; to start.

Example sentence: Professionalism in art has this difficulty: To be professional is to be dependable, to be dependable is to be predictable, and predictability is esthetically boring - an anti-virtue in a field where we hope to be astonished and startled and at some deep level refreshed.

Surprised

Part of speech: adjective

Definition: Experiencing the pleasant feelings caused by something good that was unexpected.

Part of speech: verb

Definition: To cause (someone) to feel unusually alarmed or delighted by something unexpected.

Example sentence: I have lots of friends, but I'm probably a terrible friend to all of them, even my family. I wouldn't be surprised if I found myself with no friends later on in life. My friends become my enemies.

We hope you now know whether to use Startled or Surprised in your sentence.

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