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clinging vine

noun

, Informal.
  1. a person who behaves in a helpless and dependent manner in relationships with others.


clinging vine

noun

  1. informal.
    a woman who displays excessive emotional dependence on a man
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


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Word History and Origins

Origin of clinging vine1

An Americanism dating back to 1960–65
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Idioms and Phrases

An overly dependent person, as in A clinging vine since her marriage, she's never made a decision on her own . Nearly always applied to a woman (or wife), this metaphor for a climbing plant today criticizes dependency rather than, as in former times, praising the vine's fruitfulness.
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Example Sentences

She looked as if she could be very intense, though she was of that clinging-vine variety of young woman.

There was a determination and conviction in Helen's tone much at variance with the masculine theory of the clinging vine.

We used that word at Gresham to describe the girls who have a leaning, clinging-vine way of flopping on you.

I mean the fragile, lady landlady, the clinging vine bereft of the supporting husband oak.

I hope you won't think I'm a clinging vine, but I can't help being afraid of something here every time I'm away from you.

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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