jolt
n.a sudden, sharp movement or a strong shock that surprises you. It can be a physical shake or a sudden emotional surprise.
n.a sudden, abrupt movement or a sharp emotional shock. Often used to describe a physical impact or a sudden realization that causes a startle response.
“The car stopped with a sudden jolt.”
“The news of the unexpected merger gave the employees a jolt of anxiety about their job security.”
“A sudden jolt from the earthquake sent books flying off the shelves and woke the entire neighborhood in the middle of the night.”
Often appears in the phrase 'a jolt of' followed by an abstract noun like 'energy', 'electricity', or 'surprise'.
“Local media said new explosions later jolted the city.”
“The lesson, he says, was that "the paleoclimate evidence actually doesn't suggest that climate change would happen smoothly, but rather in some jumps and jolts and non-linear effects".”
Perhaps from joll (“to knock, strike”) + -t (frequentative suffix).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.