What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Balked vs Hesitate - What's the difference?

balked | hesitate |

As verbs the difference between balked and hesitate

is that balked is (balk) while hesitate is to stop or pause respecting decision or action; to be in suspense or uncertainty as to a determination.

balked

English

Verb

(head)
  • (balk)

    • balk

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) balke, (etyl) balca, either from or influenced by (etyl) .

    Alternative forms

    * baulk

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • ridge, an unplowed strip of land
  • * Fuller
    • Bad ploughmen made balks of such ground.
  • beam, crossbeam
  • A hindrance or disappointment; a check.
  • * South
    • a balk to the confidence of the bold undertaker
  • A sudden and obstinate stop; a failure.
  • (sports) deceptive motion; feint
  • # (baseball) an illegal motion by the pitcher, intended to deceive a runner
  • # (badminton) motion used to deceive an opponent during a serve

    • Verb

    (en verb)
  • (archaic) To pass over or by.
  • To omit, miss, or overlook by chance.
  • (obsolete) To miss intentionally; to avoid; to shun; to refuse; to let go by; to shirk.
  • * Evelyn
    • By reason of the contagion then in London, we balked the nns.
  • * Bishop Hall
    • Sick he is, and keeps his bed, and balks his meat.
  • * Drayton
    • Nor doth he any creature balk , / But lays on all he meeteth.
  • To stop, check, block.
  • To stop short and refuse to go on.
    • The horse balked .
  • To refuse suddenly.
  • To disappoint; to frustrate; to foil; to baffle; to thwart.
    • to balk expectation
  • * Byron
    • They shall not balk my entrance.
  • To engage in contradiction; to be in opposition.
  • * Spenser
    • In strifeful terms with him to balk .
  • To leave or make balks in.
    • (Gower)
  • To leave heaped up; to heap up in piles.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Ten thousand bold Scots, two and twenty knights, / Balk'd in their own blood did Sir Walter see.

    Etymology 2

    Probably from (etyl) .

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To indicate to fishermen, by shouts or signals from shore, the direction taken by the shoals of herring.
    • (Webster 1913)

    References

    ----

    hesitate

    English

    Alternative forms

    * (archaic)

    Verb

    (hesitat)
  • To stop or pause respecting decision or action; to be in suspense or uncertainty as to a determination.
    • He hesitated''' whether to accept the offer or not; men often '''hesitate in forming a judgment.
    (Alexander Pope)
  • To stammer; to falter in speaking.
  • (transitive, poetic, rare) To utter with hesitation or to intimate by a reluctant manner.
  • *
    • Just hint a fault, and hesitate dislike.

    Usage notes

    * This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive . See

    Synonyms

    * deliberate * demur * doubt * falter * mammer * scruple * stammer * waver

    Derived terms

    * hesitant * hesitation

    External links

    * * *