as in refused
to show unwillingness to accept, do, engage in, or agree to
she balked at lending him any more money
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for balked (at)
Verb
-
In one practice, McCarthy refused to throw an easy short pass and opted instead to throw a deeper-developing route.—
Alec Lewis,
New York Times,
8 Sep. 2025 -
While there was plenty of blame to go around following the Giants' 21-6 loss, head coach Brian Daboll seemingly refused to point the finger at Wilson despite his underwhelming performance.—
Michael Gallagher,
MSNBC Newsweek,
8 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
The club rejected her for lack of record.—
Matthew Futterman,
New York Times,
6 Sep. 2025
-
Combine uneven play with 11 penalties and that’s a cocktail even the Florida student section nauseously rejected.—
Noah White,
Miami Herald,
6 Sep. 2025
Verb
-
On the Republican side, many politicos were thrown for another loop when Attorney General Brenna Bird declined to run for the GOP nomination.—
Rachel Schilke,
The Washington Examiner,
7 Sep. 2025
-
Note that the relative strength indicator has declined from late 2024 to the present – heading in the opposite direction of the price.—
John Navin,
Forbes.com,
6 Sep. 2025
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Cite this Entry
“Balked (at).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/balked%20%28at%29. Accessed 9 Sep. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share