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
  • The resulting video review took three minutes, frustrating Mbappé, who wanted to take the kick much sooner.
    — Jasmine Garsd, NPR, 9 July 2026
  • What makes this so frustrating is that the logic often sounds responsible.
    — Raj Ananthanpillai, Forbes.com, 8 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
  • 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
  • Authorities divided the area into zones as rescue crews, including disaster response teams and sniffer dogs, searched the region for missing despite heavy rain hampering operations, Devamanohar, a local police official, told reporters.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 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
  • Kelsey Pfendler completed a solo row from California to Hawaii, becoming the fastest person to make the crossing, and Catherine Breed launched an attempt to become the first person to swim the entire California coastline.
    — Kim Elsesser, Forbes.com, 8 July 2026
  • Know every local constituency, know where every school is, know where every school crossing is, know where every hospital is, know every crop that’s grown.
    — David Frum, The Atlantic, 8 July 2026
Definition of crossing
Verb
  • The driver continued northbound in the southbound lanes of Victoria Avenue before eventually stopping at Buena High School, according to authorities.
    — Andrew J. Campa, Los Angeles Times, 8 July 2026
  • Coastal routes support port integration by stopping at dozens of small ports, enabling year-round transport and supply chains and going well beyond tourism.
    — Indrabati Lahiri, Forbes.com, 8 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
  • 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
  • The doctrine calls for the use of rapid and disproportionate force in order to establish deterrence, place pressure on decision-makers, and minimize the period of combat.
    — Britannica Editors, Encyclopedia Britannica, 7 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 13 Jul. 2026.

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More from Merriam-Webster on balking

Nglish: Translation of balking for Spanish Speakers

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