1,400 new words in our dictionary! — Parasocial, glow-up, promposal & more
1,400 new words in our dictionary! — More

balked (at)

verb

past tense of balk (at)
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)
  1. refused
  2. rejected
  3. declined
Verb
  • José Dias Toffoli, who previously stepped down from overseeing the Banco Master case because of his links to Vorcaro, also refused to vote.
    — MAURICIO SAVARESE, Arkansas Online, 16 Sep. 2026
  • Many families who are cited in the lawsuit said the insurer refused to test their homes for contaminants.
    — Noah Haggerty, Los Angeles Times, 15 Sep. 2026
Definition of refused
Verb
  • This strategy also helps employers get to know phenomenal candidates whose applications are going to accidentally be rejected by the ATS and AI systems.
    — Expert Panel®, Forbes.com, 14 Sep. 2026
  • The Alliance rejected accusations of greenwashing at the time, saying its mandate was to identify scalable collection, sorting and recycling solutions and that projects operating at the edge of commercial viability would not all succeed.
    — Alexandra Harrell, Footwear News, 14 Sep. 2026
Definition of rejected
Verb
  • The Pentagon declined to address questions about the accounting discrepancy.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 19 Sep. 2026
  • Thrive Eternal, the sports properties company run by incoming Lakers owner Joshua Kushner, declined to comment because the NBA has not yet approved the sale.
    — Bill Shaikin, Los Angeles Times, 19 Sep. 2026
Definition of declined
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.

Browse Nearby Words

balked
balked (at)
balkiness
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Balked (at).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/balked%20%28at%29. Accessed 21 Sep. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of elegiac

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Why do we use apostrophes to show possession?

Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate

The Exceptions of '-s' and '-es' Plurals

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Back to School Vocabulary

Words from the 'Odyssey'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

The Words of the Week - Sept. 18
See More

Popular

See More

Why do we use apostrophes to show possession?

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Back to School Vocabulary
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
crayons-in-a-circle
Guess the Color Quiz Questions that use the whole box of crayons.
See All