balking 1 of 3

adjective

as in frustrating

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balking

2 of 3

noun

as in thwarting

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Dissimilar Words

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
But the Senate is balking at that budget, leaving lawmakers far from agreement on a binding piece of legislation that can get 50 GOP votes. — Max Tani, semafor.com, 22 July 2026 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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for balking
  1. frustrating
  2. thwarting
  3. hampering
  4. baffling
  5. crossing
  6. stopping
  7. blocking
  8. deterrence
Adjective
  • But this approach just keeps you stuck on a frustrating conflict merry-go-round.
    — Sabrina Romanoff, CNBC, 30 July 2026
  • After another frustrating series loss, pressure continues to mount on the front office to find upgrades capable of jump-starting a lineup with postseason aspirations.
    — Peter Chawaga, Forbes.com, 29 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
  • Gale-force winds were hampering aircraft from dumping water on the flames.
    — Mark Carlson, Los Angeles Times, 31 July 2026
  • What our clients most cited as the biggest constraints hampering development and dealmaking is approval timelines and permitting, narrowly ahead of construction costs and zoning restrictions.
    — Lee Kiser, Forbes.com, 29 July 2026
Definition of hampering
Adjective
  • What’s baffling is that none of this lies beyond the ability of city officials to address.
    — Michael Powell, The Atlantic, 30 July 2026
  • Tracking the sky to such depths, such resolution and for such a long time practically guarantees that a bevy of weird and baffling phenomena will emerge from the LSST data.
    — Phil Plait, Scientific American, 24 July 2026
Definition of baffling
Noun
  • During the assault, Russian forces reportedly attempted to restore the crossings with pontoon bridges, but these were destroyed by Ukrainian tactical aviation.
    — Vikram Mittal, Forbes.com, 29 July 2026
  • Spain’s interior ministry, which oversees borders and tracks irregular migration, would not confirm the number of crossings or say how many migrants had reached the territory by swimming.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 29 July 2026
Definition of crossing
Verb
  • Nets, Disruptions, and Camouflage Close reading, however, reveals a few telling details about what the Pentagon views as best practices for stopping and killing drones.
    — Zita Ballinger Fletcher, Forbes.com, 30 July 2026
  • Defeat technologies are an essential piece in the kill chain, as detection is only the first step to stopping the threat.
    — Prabhat Ranjan Mishra, Interesting Engineering, 29 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
  • For Greece, the investment is part of a broader effort to modernize its armed forces and enhance deterrence capabilities in a region marked by persistent security concerns.
    — Prabhat Ranjan Mishra, Interesting Engineering, 25 July 2026
  • For decades, the Federal Sentencing Guidelines have served as the starting point for nearly every sentencing hearing, producing lengthy prison terms intended to promote consistency and deterrence.
    — Walter Pavlo, Forbes.com, 25 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 3 Aug. 2026.

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More from Merriam-Webster on balking

Nglish: Translation of balking for Spanish Speakers

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