balked

verb

past tense of balk
as in frustrated
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

Relevance

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 balked Others balked at the cost of the $20 million project – $5-6 million for bike lanes alone – as the city faces a $30 million structural budget deficit and is also seeking a $300 million bond measure for general infrastructure on the November ballot. — Chase Hunter, Mercury News, 17 Aug. 2026 Democratic activists balked, Hilton stepped down and investments dried up. — Ben Paviour, Sacbee.com, 10 Aug. 2026 And, while other states had balked at the fifty-million-dollar price tag that Hubbard deemed necessary for the clinical trials, Texas had ended the year with a twenty-four-billion-dollar budget surplus from oil and gas revenues. — Michelle Lhooq, New Yorker, 7 Aug. 2026 Rave reviews from automotive journalists and the truck's ability to serve as a backup generator were not enough to sway consumers who balked at its high price. — Morgan Korn, ABC News, 6 Aug. 2026 According to multiple sources, Houston engaged with various teams about starting pitching but balked at massive asking prices. — Chandler Rome, New York Times, 4 Aug. 2026 More employers have balked at paying for them because so many people could be eligible for the treatments and many patients stop them after achieving a weight-loss goal. — Kevin Williams, CNBC, 1 Aug. 2026 Beshear’s administration balked at forcing insurers to work with the company, but ultimately declined to reinstate tighter spending controls. — Alex Acquisto, ProPublica, 30 July 2026 Things reached a boiling point in 2008, when NATAS tried to launch its own Broadband Emmys, and the TV Academy balked. — Michael Schneider, Variety, 27 July 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for balked
  1. frustrated
  2. baffled
  3. hampered
  4. thwarted
Verb
  • Something has to give As Big Oil cashes in on the supply disruptions, Main Street is increasingly frustrated by high prices.
    — Matt Egan, CNN Money, 19 Aug. 2026
  • American voters are already frustrated with the high cost of living.
    — CBS News, CBS News, 18 Aug. 2026
Definition of frustrated
Verb
  • She is baffled by the way her friends Moe and Fumina rail against their parents, especially when Yuko is always holding back at home, forever walking on eggshells.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 6 Aug. 2026
  • Al Roker was baffled to come face to face with his doppelgänger on the Today show plaza.
    — Leigh Blickley, Entertainment Weekly, 6 Aug. 2026
Definition of baffled
Verb
  • But the lack of a proper contest between bat and ball in Pakistani domestic first-class cricket has starved locals of that preparation time and hampered the development of genuine pace.
    — Ahsan Iftikhar Nagi, New York Times, 18 Aug. 2026
  • However, difficult weather conditions hampered the search in the following days, as the service wrote in a subsequent update.
    — Adam England, PEOPLE, 17 Aug. 2026
Definition of hampered
Verb
  • The plan was thwarted by heavy rain that delayed the meeting.
    — USA Today, USA Today, 18 Aug. 2026
  • But he was again thwarted, this time by bad weather—probably a hurricane by modern standards—which drove the ships away.
    — Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, 14 Aug. 2026
Definition of thwarted

Browse Nearby Words

balk (at)
balked
balked (at)
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Balked.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/balked. Accessed 23 Aug. 2026.

Copy Citation

More from Merriam-Webster on balked

Nglish: Translation of balked for Spanish Speakers

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 prowess

See Definitions and Examples »

Popular in Grammar & Usage

See More

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

How to Pronounce the Trickiest Menu Items

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

Do you 'say your piece' or 'say your peace'?

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

Popular in Wordplay

See More

Words from the 'Odyssey'

The Longest Long Words List

Even More Words That Sound Like Insults But Aren't

The Words of the Week - Aug. 21

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World
See More

Popular

See More

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

Words from the 'Odyssey'

The Longest Long Words List
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
alt-684346df967d5
Add A Letter Quiz Pick the letter that goes in the same spot in fou...
See All