as in refusing
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 balking (at)
Verb
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The documents included disciplinary information and reportedly showed that Sherrill was barred from walking at her 1994 graduation after refusing to inform on classmates involved in a cheating scandal.—
Martha McHardy,
MSNBC Newsweek,
25 Oct. 2025 -
The violations include student-athletes betting on and against their own teams, sharing information with third parties for purposes of sports betting, manipulating scoring or outcomes and/or refusing to participate in the investigation.—
Ryan Canfield,
FOXNews.com,
25 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Others noted the couple who set the no-children boundary shouldn't feel guilty whatsoever for rejecting a guest's request for an exception.—
Rachel Raposas,
PEOPLE,
24 Oct. 2025
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Indeed, throughout the world there’s a growing realization that the way to prosperity for all nations is rejecting protectionist legislation and promoting fair and free competition.—
James Bickerton,
MSNBC Newsweek,
24 Oct. 2025
Verb
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The documents contained details of disciplinary action and indicated that Sherrill was prohibited from participating in her 1994 graduation ceremony after declining to identify classmates implicated in a cheating incident.—
Martha McHardy,
MSNBC Newsweek,
30 Oct. 2025
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The country’s bear population is increasing, perhaps because the human population is declining and abandoning rural settlements.—
Tom Chivers,
semafor.com,
30 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Wembanyama has been passing up many reasonable 3-point looks in the preseason and only taking wide-open ones.—
Jared Weiss,
New York Times,
17 Oct. 2025
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Science scores were also mixed between grades, with 5th graders passing up 1%, 8th graders down 2% and high schoolers down 3%.—
Grace Zokovitch,
Boston Herald,
30 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Inside the virtual reality world, patients can interact with other people, walk throughout the house party or bar, and even practice turning down an offer of alcohol or drugs.—
Ciara McCarthy,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
29 Oct. 2025
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Skarsgård has returned to play Pennywise, a villain that King fans agreed the actor embodied to perfection, after initially turning down the chance to continue the character.—
James Hibberd,
HollywoodReporter,
22 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Mayfield was 8 of 9 for 144 yards throwing over the middle against a defense that lost Warner on the second defensive series.—
Matt Barrows,
New York Times,
14 Oct. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Balking (at).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/balking%20%28at%29. Accessed 1 Nov. 2025.
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