balks (at)

verb

present tense third-person singular of balk (at)
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

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for balks (at)
  1. refuses
  2. rejects
  3. declines
Verb
  • In the event that Bally’s refuses to respond with full candor and information, the City Council may need to consider options up to and including suspending the Bally’s license.
    — Joe Ferguson, Chicago Tribune, 25 Aug. 2026
  • The channel, which is banned inside Iran, refuses to disclose its private donors.
    — Cora Engelbrecht, New Yorker, 24 Aug. 2026
Definition of refuses
Verb
  • So when Alex rejects the author of a romantasy novel entitled The Goblin Seed that turns out to be a bestseller, all hell breaks loose.
    — Joy Press, Vanity Fair, 24 Aug. 2026
  • Manjari Sihare-Sutin, who heads Sotheby’s South Asian Modern and Contemporary department, said her team rejects an average of two works ahead of every sale because of authenticity concerns.
    — Daniel Cassady, ARTnews.com, 19 Aug. 2026
Definition of rejects
Verb
  • Even as Rumours declines, none of the drops connected with the set are especially dramatic.
    — Hugh McIntyre, Forbes.com, 23 Aug. 2026
  • Understand that viewership already declines considerably when both are absent.
    — Bobby Burack OutKick, FOXNews.com, 20 Aug. 2026
Definition of declines
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.

Browse Nearby Words

balks
balks (at)
balky
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Balks (at).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/balks%20%28at%29. Accessed 29 Aug. 2026.

Copy Citation
Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster

Word of the Day

Listen to the pronunciation of kith

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

'A' or 'an'? What about before 'h'? An Indefinite Article Guide

Why is '-ed' sometimes pronounced at the end of a word?

What's the difference between 'fascism' and 'socialism'?

Commonly Misspelled Words
See More

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Ye Olde Nincompoop: Old-Fashioned Words for 'Stupid'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

Even More Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

The Words of the Week - Aug. 28

Why do we say 'break a leg'?
See More

Popular

See More

A Who’s Who Regarding ‘Who’s’ and ‘Whose’

Ye Olde Nincompoop: Old-Fashioned Words for 'Stupid'

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of
See More

Games & Quizzes

See All
Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
skateboard-dog-hat
Wordmaxxing Slang Quiz Give your vocabulary a glow up by getting sendy w...
See All