cloying

American  

[kloi-ing] / ˈklɔɪ ɪŋ /

adjective

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

   a perfume of cloying sweetness.

2. overly ingratiating or sentimental.

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cloying British  

/ ˈklɔɪɪŋ /

adjective

1. initially pleasurable or sweet but wearying in excess

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Other Word Forms

• cloyingly adverb
• uncloying adjective

Etymology

Origin of cloying

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

Example Sentences

Called Agnes here, as she was in her father’s will, she is played by Jessie Buckley in a performance that tips over the edge from heartfelt into cloying, as does the film.

From The Wall Street Journal

The claim is sometime made that funerals are about the living, but that reduces the event to a group therapy session, overlaid with the cloying odor of lilies and gladioli.

From The Wall Street Journal

The script leans so heavily into cloying emotionality that, in its climax, everyone dissolves into tears.

From The Wall Street Journal

But she is bewildered by the sensory clashes and put off by the cloying sweetness.

From The Wall Street Journal

The results were rarely inedible, but often disconcerting: over-salted, over-spiced, somehow both cloying and sharp, like they couldn’t decide what they wanted to be.

From Salon

Related Words

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