balking 1 of 3

adjective

as in frustrating

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balking

2 of 3

noun

as in thwarting

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balking

3 of 3

verb

present participle of balk
as in hampering
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

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of balking
Verb
Montreal was one of the cities that pulled out of the process after balking at increasing cost estimates. — Ian Nicholas Quillen, Forbes.com, 4 July 2026 Higher education is under siege, with many students and parents balking at high costs. — Washington Post, 10 June 2026 But Democrats are now balking at a long-term extension over their objections to Pulte. — John Parkinson, ABC News, 9 June 2026 GitHub users who have grown accustomed to using its Copilot integration as part of their workflow are balking at cost estimates as the service moves toward per-token billing, rather than per-request billing, Ars Technica reports. — Jon Martindale, PC Magazine, 2 June 2026 Philip Roth and John Updike can be accused of many things, but balking at full-frontal heterosexuality is not one of them. — Becca Rothfeld, New Yorker, 1 June 2026 According to Puck, YouTube may sit out entirely after balking at splitting a five-game package with Netflix. — Bobby Burack Outkick, FOXNews.com, 11 May 2026 Then came the eighth inning, which saw Yankees longman Ryan Yarbrough give up a grand slam to Jo Adell after balking and intentionally walking Trout. — Gary Phillips, New York Daily News, 16 Apr. 2026 But out in the world, shoppers started balking at the cost of a bag of chips. — Wire Tbd, Dallas Morning News, 8 Apr. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for balking
  1. frustrating
  2. thwarting
  3. hampering
  4. baffling
  5. crossing
  6. stopping
  7. blocking
  8. deterrence
Adjective
  • Conversely, there are moments throughout Pompeii where the trail goes cold due to insufficient documentation from 2,000 years ago, frustrating Hiddleston in the process.
    — Brian Davids, HollywoodReporter, 16 July 2026
  • The recent weakness has been frustrating given the company's strong fundamentals.
    — Kevin Stankiewicz,Alexa LoMonaco, CNBC, 16 July 2026
Definition of frustrating
Noun
  • The attack’s thwarting was an undeniable success.
    — Shane Harris, The Atlantic, 27 Apr. 2026
  • The thwarting of the Charlotte Hornets, one of the NBA’s fastest squads, is the quintessential White play.
    — Fred Katz, New York Times, 8 Apr. 2026
Definition of thwarting
Verb
  • American regulators’ and politicians’ fear of Chinese tech is hampering business prospects for Chinese flying camera company HOVERAir, its CEO told Semafor.
    — J.D. Capelouto, semafor.com, 14 July 2026
  • Because the injection must then be sent (or pushed) to each specific target, the scale of the attack is limited, hampering mass exploits that hit the Internet at large.
    — Dan Goodin, ArsTechnica, 8 July 2026
Definition of hampering
Adjective
  • The currently airing Season 9, which received a nomination for its season premiere, hasn’t really seen a notable uptick in quality or in buzz, making its return to the Emmys stage a little baffling.
    — Wilson Chapman, IndieWire, 10 July 2026
  • Ancelotti made the baffling choice to sideline the Real Madrid player for a penalty kick in the first half.
    — Doha Madani, NBC news, 5 July 2026
Definition of baffling
Noun
  • But crossings had stalled again in recent days since strikes resumed.
    — Billy Stockwell, CNN Money, 15 July 2026
  • Many of the world’s longest railway bridges are not dramatic river crossings but rather vast viaducts spanning floodplains, wetlands, farmland, and densely populated regions to provide stable routes for high-speed trains.
    — Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 14 July 2026
Definition of crossing
Verb
  • Travel may be getting more expensive, but that isn’t stopping Americans from splurging on bucket-list vacations.
    — Lauren Dana Ellman, Travel + Leisure, 15 July 2026
  • Maria Alejandra Betancur said her father, Carlos Hugo Betancur, was recently detained while stopping for gas at a Marathon station on Northwest 58th Street in Doral.
    — Ivan Taylor, Miami Herald, 15 July 2026
Definition of stopping
Adjective
  • The winner was the player who avoided being blocked the longest — a blocking game, a category of strategy game where the objective centers on restricting your opponent’s movement.
    — Hanna Wickes, Kansas City Star, 19 Feb. 2026
Definition of blocking
Noun
  • Ballistic-missile submarines are built primarily for nuclear deterrence, while attack submarines hunt enemy vessels, gather intelligence, support special forces, and strike targets on land.
    — Atharva Gosavi, Interesting Engineering, 11 July 2026
  • This includes intelligence and surveillance assets as well as long-range bombers, air-to-air refueling, and, ultimately, NATO’s nuclear deterrence.
    — Anna Mulrine Grobe, Christian Science Monitor, 8 July 2026
Definition of deterrence

Browse Nearby Words

balkiness
balking
balking (at)
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Cite this Entry

“Balking.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/balking. Accessed 19 Jul. 2026.

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