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

Those who turned 10 before that date were “too old for something so cloying and cute,” said Barney.

From Salon

Fortunately, there is also enough good-natured goofball humor to keep Gordon Greenberg’s production from sinking into cloying goo.

From New York Times

Before we get into what the Rabbit Hole is, here’s what it isn’t: a place with touch screens, a ball pit, inscrutable plaques, velvet ropes, a cloying soundtrack or adults in costumes.

From New York Times

In contrast, the Neue’s exhibition contains just six late landscapes, and not always the best, since half of them center on vine-covered forest cottages and lakeside villas and can be cloying.

From New York Times

But the 95-minute score is so blandly cloying, the rhymed-couplets text so stiff and the characters so cardboard, that not a moment ends up surprising or moving.

From New York Times

Related Words

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