as in to refuse
to show unwillingness to accept, do, engage in, or agree to
she balked at lending him any more money
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for balk (at)
Verb
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In the affidavit, a detective noted that Decker — who was divorced from his daughters’ mother — refused to sign a parenting plan that required him to seek mental health treatment and domestic violence anger management.—
Tim Stelloh,
NBC news,
25 Sep. 2025 -
These include satellites apparently so secret that the US government refused to identify the agency that owns them.—
Benj Edwards,
ArsTechnica,
25 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Prosecutors also sought another charge of making false statements, court documents released Thursday show, but the grand jury rejected it.—
Chad de Guzman,
Time,
26 Sep. 2025
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ByteDance and TikTok had challenged the law on First Amendment grounds but the Supreme Court rejected its appeal.—
Todd Spangler,
Variety,
25 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Rizzo declined to comment on any potential campaign, pointing to ongoing efforts to strike down the map.—
Kacen Bayless,
Kansas City Star,
25 Sep. 2025
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Energy demands around the world are rising, and with the increasing impacts of climate change and the declining efficiency of existing infrastructure, the situation is likely to worsen.—
Lauren Giella,
MSNBC Newsweek,
25 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Science scores were also mixed between grades, with 5th graders passing up 1%, 8th graders down 2% and high schoolers down 3%.—
Grace Zokovitch,
Boston Herald,
30 Sep. 2025
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For Stolarz, the chance at financial certainty for a career that began way back in 2012, when he was drafted in the second round by the Philadelphia Flyers, was too much to pass up.—
Jonas Siegel,
New York Times,
30 Sep. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Balk (at).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/balk%20%28at%29. Accessed 1 Oct. 2025.
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