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
  • The former special counsel also cited former Vice President Mike Pence, who refused to go along with a plan to overturn the results of the 2020 election by rejecting the electoral votes of battleground states that Biden won.
    — Melissa Quinn, CBS News, 29 Sep. 2026
  • Botner testified that Flynn repeatedly refused to leave his wife to be with her, straining their relationship.
    — Nancy Dillon, Rolling Stone, 29 Sep. 2026
Definition of refused
Verb
  • Final results from the Swiss government showed 70% of voters, and a majority in all 26 of the country's regions, rejected the plan.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 28 Sep. 2026
  • Earlier this month, Cruz vociferously rejected the idea that artificial intelligence companies should be granted antitrust exemptions in order to collaborate on ways to implement industry-wide AI safety guardrails.
    — Daniel Libit, Sportico.com, 28 Sep. 2026
Definition of rejected
Verb
  • Police initially declined to share details about the victim beyond his age and gender to The Times on Thursday night.
    — Iris Kwok, Los Angeles Times, 3 Oct. 2026
  • Warsh at the start of the summer declined to say whether rates should rise.
    — Taylor Millard, The Washington Examiner, 3 Oct. 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 5 Oct. 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!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

More Commonly Mispronounced Words

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

Is it 'nerve-racking' or 'nerve-wracking'?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

7 Great Ways to Say 'Great'

The Longest Long Words List

9 Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

Do You Need a New Language Peeve?

7 Great Ways to Say 'Great'

The Longest Long Words List
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
name tags
Words Named After People Quiz Find out who’s behind "leotard," "morphine," an...
See All