as in refuses
to show unwillingness to accept, do, engage in, or agree to
she balked at lending him any more money
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for balks (at)
Verb
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The film exists because the dead deserve to be witnessed and because the families inside Iran, who cannot speak, deserve someone outside who refuses to forget.—
Anna Tingley,
Variety,
2 June 2026 -
Walt asks Jesse to kill him, but Jesse refuses and tells him to do it himself.—
Brianna Zigler,
Entertainment Weekly,
2 June 2026
Verb
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By the time a debt collector calls or a lender rejects your loan, an identity thief may have been using your information for months.—
Kurt Knutsson,
FOXNews.com,
2 June 2026
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Pamela, a servant, rejects the advances of her wealthy employer and thereby induces him to marry her.—
Becca Rothfeld,
New Yorker,
1 June 2026
Verb
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Once sterile males are prevalent enough, the fly's population declines and then dies out.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
8 June 2026
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If price declines outpace output gains, total revenues in affected industries must fall, reducing the income available to workers and other producers despite higher levels of production.—
James Broughel,
Forbes.com,
6 June 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Balks (at).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/balks%20%28at%29. Accessed 10 Jun. 2026.
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