cloy

[ kloi ]

verb (used with object)

1. to weary by an excess of food, sweetness, pleasure, etc.; surfeit; satiate.

   Synonyms: bore, sate, glut

verb (used without object)

1. to become uninteresting or distasteful through overabundance:

   A diet of cake and candy soon cloys.

cloy

/ klɔɪ /

verb

1. to make weary or cause weariness through an excess of something initially pleasurable or sweet

Other Words From

• over·cloy verb (used with object)
• un·cloyed adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of cloy¹

1350–1400; aphetic variant of Middle English acloyen < Middle French enclo ( y ) er < Late Latin inclāvāre to nail in, equivalent to in- in- ² + -clāvāre, verbal derivative of clāvus nail

Word History and Origins

Origin of cloy¹

C14 (originally: to nail, hence, to obstruct): from earlier acloyen, from Old French encloer , from Medieval Latin inclavāre, from Latin clāvāre to nail, from clāvus a nail

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

• nauseate