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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The suit alleges that ICE agents repeatedly refused to give VML's father her location and denied him the opportunity to speak for more than a minute to VML's mother.—
Alana Wise,
NPR,
26 Apr. 2025 -
Listen to this article Three people were arrested and accused of assaulting a taxi cab driver in Norwalk on Thursday after allegedly refusing to pay their cab fare, including one suspect whose alleged combative behavior injured a police officer.—
Justin Muszynski,
Hartford Courant,
26 Apr. 2025
Verb
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Guo, the spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, rejected Trump’s assertions suggesting progress toward a trade deal.—
Max Zahn,
ABC News,
24 Apr. 2025
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Hours before the scheduled execution on Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a final appeal by Mendoza's attorneys to stop the execution.—
Thomas G. Moukawsher,
MSNBC Newsweek,
24 Apr. 2025
Verb
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Muir declined to speak to The Athletic about the evolution of Stanford athletics.—
Stewart Mandel,
New York Times,
1 May 2025
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The downturn is closely tied to Tesla's sliding stock value, which has declined this year amid rising competition in the electric vehicle market.—
Kate Nalepinski,
MSNBC Newsweek,
1 May 2025
Verb
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Still, the opportunity to grow a retail business into a wealth platform was too exciting to pass up.—
Lindsey Choo,
Forbes.com,
21 Apr. 2025
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Putin, bent on total victory, may regret passing up the extraordinary chance offered by Trump to end his disastrous Ukraine war and cut his country’s substantial losses.—
Matthew Chance,
CNN Money,
18 Apr. 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 5 May. 2025.
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