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
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for balked (at)
Verb
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In the lead-up to the tournament, Argentina had played a series of friendlies without him, since Valencia refused to release him.—
Michael Cox,
New York Times,
5 Oct. 2025 -
Geri refused to leave the premises, according to authorities, and was arrested without incident.—
Stephen Sorace,
FOXNews.com,
5 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Not in the response from the armed Palestinian group were other provisions detailing Gaza's future, including some Hamas has long rejected.—
Susan Page,
USA Today,
5 Oct. 2025
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Sancho rejected a contract offer at Manchester City to join Dortmund in 2017.—
Liam Tharme,
New York Times,
5 Oct. 2025
Verb
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The carmaker may announce in the coming weeks about $5 billion in fresh money on top of a similar amount earmarked earlier in the year, said the people, who declined to be identified discussing information that’s not public.—
Gabrielle Coppola,
Fortune,
4 Oct. 2025
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But overall crime has declined, including a 30% drop in homicides, the mayor’s office said.—
Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy,
USA Today,
4 Oct. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Balked (at).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/balked%20%28at%29. Accessed 9 Oct. 2025.
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