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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Like Social Security and Medicare reform and the massive national debt, which is at $38 trillion and counting because Washington refuses to cut spending, despite record amounts of revenue flooding into the Treasury.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
17 Feb. 2026 -
She is known for her perfectly coiffed buns; my baby hairs, on the other hand, refuse to fall in line.—
Conçetta Ciarlo,
Vogue,
17 Feb. 2026
Verb
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The Indiana Court of Appeals rejected a Gary man’s bid last week to cut his sentence for attacking multiple women.—
Meredith Colias-Pete,
Chicago Tribune,
17 Feb. 2026
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Like in the case of Adam Hart, who rejected a digital verdict in order to protect a patient’s lungs, the ultimate value of the nurse in the age of AI may be not their ability to follow the prompt but their willingness to override it.—
Hilke Schellmann,
Scientific American,
17 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Cassia County Sheriff Jarrod Thompson’s office declined to comment Thursday and directed the Statesman back to Larsen.—
Kevin Fixler,
Idaho Statesman,
20 Feb. 2026
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Durant declined to address the allegation directly on Wednesday.—
Marley Malenfant,
Austin American Statesman,
19 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Part of our job as travel writers is to know when a deal is too good to pass up.—
Michelle Baricevic,
Travel + Leisure,
15 Feb. 2026
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Still, the trio may not want to pass up making Latin history again.—
Taijuan Moorman,
USA Today,
8 Feb. 2026
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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 21 Feb. 2026.
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