cloying

adjective

cloy·ing ˈklȯi-iŋ

ˈklȯiŋ

Synonyms of cloying next

: disgusting or distasteful by reason of excess

cloying sweetness

also : excessively sweet or sentimental

a cloying romantic comedy

Her coyness grows cloying after a while … —

Elysa Gardner

cloyingly adverb

Did you know?

We won’t bore you with the sappy tale behind the word cloying, because happily, there isn’t one. That’s because its history isn’t sweet, but rather tough as nails. Cloying comes from the verb cloy, which had among its earliest uses the meaning (to quote the Oxford English Dictionary) “to render [a gun] useless by driving a spike or plug into the touch-hole.” This ultra-specific sense of clogging and stuffing arose alongside both broader and figurative ones, including “to fill or choke up,” and cloy has since come to mean “to supply or indulge to excess.” Accordingly, cloying implies a nauseating amount of something that might be pleasing in smaller doses, especially both literal and metaphorical sweetness.

Examples of cloying in a Sentence

After a while, the softness of his voice becomes cloying. the cloying sentiments of so many Mother's Day cards

Recent Examples on the Web

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.

Not cloying, but clearly designed to be inoffensive: who would, after all, wish these boys, this family, this community, any harm? —

Manuel Betancourt, Variety, 6 Dec. 2024 The first sensations are textural, soft and slick but not cloying, with occasional crunch. —

Bill Addison, Los Angeles Times, 5 Dec. 2024 Its subtle yet sweet mix of marshmallow, amber, and vanilla is delicious without being cloying. —

Jennifer Hussein, Allure, 2 Dec. 2024 Its readability owes much to Williams and his prose, which is lyrical but not cloying, and to his storytelling, which is propulsive without sacrificing character development or narrative tension. —

Sarah Jones, Vulture, 27 Nov. 2024 See all Example Sentences for cloying