balk

[US]/bɔːk/
[UK]/bɔːk/
Frequency: Very High

Translation

n. obstacle; mistake
vt. to prevent; to evade
vi. to suddenly stop and refuse to go on; to hesitate.
Word Forms
Present Participlebalking
Third Person Singularbalks
Pluralbalks
Past Participlebalked
Past Tensebalked

Example Sentences

a balk to one's plans

The horse balked at the jump.

They balked the robber's plan.

He balked in his speech.

She balked at the very idea of compromise.

They braced up the old house with balks of timber.

I wanted to buy the dress, but I balked at the high price.

It was a fine apartment in which we found ourselves, large, lofty, and heavily raftered with huge balks of age-blackened oak.

Real-world Examples

I wanted to buy the blouse , but I balked at the high price.

Source: Travel English for Going Abroad

Why would they balk at a chance to topple him?

Source: NPR News September 2019 Compilation

But they “balk at assuming the risks and burdens” that global leadership entails.

Source: The Economist - Arts

Then he balked at his bonus one year and got popped.

Source: Billions Season 1

The gods balked at this request and were ready to send him away.

Source: Bilingual Edition of TED-Ed Selected Speeches

Yet historians often balk at telling the tumultuous, ideologically charged story in one go.

Source: The Economist - Arts

Many potential applicants, she said, balked at the sticker price, and did not investigate further.

Source: New York Times

The CIA balked, Sater claims, and the group retreated to Dushanbe, then back to Moscow.

Source: Newsweek

Some may balk at the idea of limiting dual nationality.

Source: The Economist (Summary)

It is too much to be balked by so petty an obstacle, when all else had been overcome.

Source: The Sign of the Four

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