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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He’s got a balky knee, and now a painful biceps, and the Dodgers have kept him off the mound for a moment, but what happens in October?
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 2, 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
Nuggets point guard Jamal Murray, who missed seven games down the stretch with a balky knee, logged 39 minutes without any trouble in Game 1.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 21, 2024
They were balky, and it took me a few minutes to get them inside and the door shut and latched.
From "My Brother Sam is Dead" by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
Carter may also find the Federal Reserve balkier than before.
From Time Magazine Archive
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
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
Joe made more news as baseball's balkiest holdout.
From Time Magazine Archive
Replace the balkiest portions with gleaming fiber-optic wire.
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
Ed was one of the balkiest boys I ever had in my school.
From Reveries of a Schoolmaster by Francis B. Pearson
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