cloying

[ kloi-ing ]

adjective

1. causing or tending to cause disgust or aversion through excess:

   a perfume of cloying sweetness.

2. overly ingratiating or sentimental.

cloying

/ ˈklɔɪɪŋ /

adjective

1. initially pleasurable or sweet but wearying in excess

Derived Forms

• ˈcloyingly, adverb

Other Words From

• cloying·ly adverb
• un·cloying adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of cloying¹

First recorded in 1540–50; cloy + -ing ²

Example Sentences

Cut into squares, it’s hard to stop eating — it’s sweet and hearty but not cloying or heavy, and has a soft but structured texture.

From Eater

It also adds emotional stakes to the comfortable domesticity of her world, which prevents it from getting cloying.

From Vox

Pays d'Oc, France, $19The semi-sweet designation gave me pause, but this wine is well-made in the style and not at all as cloying as some sweet reds that are not as transparent in their labeling.

From Washington Post

The story they embody is a cloying, haphazard, and exposition-heavy mess.

From Time

I find fruity, rather than sweet, is a more reliable guide — after all, ripe fruit tastes sweet, and wines can taste ripe without being cloying.

From Washington Post

And sure, this product—made from French vodka—is cloying in its sweetness.

From The Daily Beast

After all, The Selfish Giant is one of the most cloying works in literature.

From The Daily Beast

Cranberry sauce should be sweet but not cloying, and tart without causing pucker and anguish.

From The Daily Beast

This is not to suggest Ann is cloying or offputtingly perfect.

From The Daily Beast

He has also drawn remarkable performances from the child actors, who always seem expressive and believable, never cloying.

From The Daily Beast

The Adagio is very fine in its way, but such is its cloying sweetness that one longs for something bracing and active.

From Project Gutenberg

They were so spicy, so woodsy, so redolent of a fine sweetness that had no cloying element in it.

From Project Gutenberg

The fawning of Society begins to pall after a week's experience of its cloying sweetness.

From Project Gutenberg

He swerved around cloying drifts of snow, he avoided holding ruts, he picked the icy sweeps of the road.

From Project Gutenberg

Following these lines, in his early piece, came others disfigured by cloying touches of the kind too common in his love-scenes.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• gooey
• saccharine
• sappy
• sentimental
• sugary
• syrupy