treacly

[ tree-klee ]

adjective

1. sentimental in a contrived or unrestrained way:

   The stories too often feature clichéd piffle and end with treacly flourishes.

2. British. resembling molasses mixed with corn syrup in taste, color, texture, etc.:

   The chestnut honey has a sweet, treacly taste with an earthy, nutty aroma.

   We spent a delicious hour inhaling the treacly light of late afternoon.

Word History and Origins

Origin of treacly¹

treacl(e) + -y ¹( def )

Example Sentences

The writers of aphoristic treacle are no more innocent than the purveyors of sugary drinks.

From Washington Post

And we all remember good-but-overpraised songs like If I Had a Hammer and the treacly classic Where Have All the Flowers Gone?

From The Daily Beast

Screw those treacly holiday offerings aiming to melt your heart or lift your spirits.

From The Daily Beast

Here was this anti-war holiday demoted to treacly sentimentality.

From The Daily Beast

It avoids that treacly, touchy-feely ground on which Democrats so love to walk.

From The Daily Beast

It was improving and patronising and treacly, and full of information, partly about the lectures, but mostly about himself.

From Project Gutenberg

The thick treacly liquid is thus drawn out into a thread of such fineness that a microscope is necessary to find it with.

From Project Gutenberg

His eyes sought answer from the river and saw a rowboat rock at anchor on the treacly swells lazily its plastered board.

From Project Gutenberg

The glaze is treacly black, often applied unevenly and sometimes pitted with air bubbles.

From Project Gutenberg

The sugar in those days was the dark, treacly kind, that left a stain on the floor like blood; it came in casks.

From Project Gutenberg