balky
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of balky
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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Even with his career at its pinnacle and before his back became chronically balky, Woods found his way onto tabloid headlines.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 8, 2026
Maintaining and fixing a balky machine teaches necessary humility.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 5, 2025
There’s an argument to be made that the feds could believe they have a balky case and want to bloody up Adams in the public eye ahead of a trial.
From Slate ● Sep. 12, 2024
So there was Woods, with his fused ankle and balky back, carefully traversing the hilly property again this week.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 10, 2024
After quite a struggle and a tug of war with a balky zipper, we finally got the suits on, and our helmets and gloves locked in place.
From "Flying to the Moon: An Astronaut's Story" by Michael Collins
After dozens of false starts, he wants to get two of his balkier clients to say yes to a house he shows them.
From Time Magazine Archive
Carter may also find the Federal Reserve balkier than before.
From Time Magazine Archive
I was seated at my typewriter and the book was balkier than usual, and I wished that the clumper at the door would go away.
From Dawn O'Hara, the Girl Who Laughed by Edna Ferber
By the afternoon, three horses remained — the toughest and balkiest to get into trailers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 6, 2017
He rode herd on the balkiest members of his own party, hammered patchwork Administration proposals into workable legislation.
From Time Magazine Archive
Foreign policy brought Bush his greatest successes, and it is the area in which a President can act more or less on his own, without being greatly hampered by even the balkiest Congress.
From Time Magazine Archive
Thus will begin the second session of the 95th Congress, one of the boldest and balkiest in memory.
From Time Magazine Archive
On the second floor, directly, judging from the noise, over the stall of the balkiest horse in the stable below, is the room of the Madame.
From The Witches of New York by Q. K. Philander Doesticks
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