BALKED Synonyms: 60 Similar and Opposite Words

balked

verb

past tense of balk

as in frustrated

to prevent from achieving a goal a young man with big dreams who refused to be balked by the many challenges he faced in making them a reality

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Example Sentences

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Recent Examples of balked Many Plainfield residents have balked at the prospect of clearing scores of acres of vacant fields and former farmland to accommodate two enormous buildings, fleets of trucks and sprawling parking fields. —

Don Stacom, Hartford Courant, 15 June 2026 But insurers balked, so the federal government is instead extending the transitional coverage program, called Bridge, until the end of next year. —

John Wilkerson, STAT, 15 June 2026 Plenty of companies wanted the productivity of autonomous agents but balked at handing their code to a vendor's cloud. —

Janakiram Msv, Forbes.com, 13 June 2026 Lewis, who balked at a similar request in August 2024, didn’t hesitate to say yes this time. —

Dan Hayes, New York Times, 13 June 2026 That project blew up and the team left town after city officials balked at the team’s excessive demands for taxpayer subsidies. —

Daniel Borenstein, Mercury News, 12 June 2026 Early Claude Code customers balked at the price compared with $20-per-month AI subscriptions, wondering whether Claude was really different from other products. —

Sheryl Estrada, Fortune, 9 June 2026 At least one analysis found the drugs to be cost effective, but employers have balked at paying for them because so many people could be eligible for the treatments and many patients stop them after achieving a weight loss goal. —

Angelica Peebles, CNBC, 8 June 2026 For years, Alabama had balked at obeying a series of orders, including from the Supreme Court itself, to insure that its Black voters have a voice in how they are governed. —

Ruth Marcus, New Yorker, 8 June 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for balked

Verb

The Atlas Lions also frustrated their Scottish foes with their physicality, taking down Christie, McTominay and others with a series of hard challenges that did not draw whistles.

— Zack Cox, Boston Herald, 20 June 2026
Dalton Rushing, hitless and visibly frustrated most of the game, delivered a run-scoring single in the ninth inning to help lift the Dodgers to a 6-5 walk-off win.

— Maddie Lee, Los Angeles Times, 20 June 2026