cloying
English edit
Etymology edit
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Pronunciation edit
Verb edit
cloying
- present participle and gerund of cloy
Adjective edit
cloying (comparative more cloying, superlative most cloying)
- Unpleasantly excessive.
- The cloying fondness she displayed was what, in the end, drove me away.
- August 16 2014, Daniel Taylor, "Swansea upstage Manchester United in Louis van Gaal’s Premier League bow," guardian.co.uk:
- It was a cloying sense of deja vu attached to the team that finished seventh last season, 22 points off the top and drastically in need of some more dynamism.
- Excessively sweet.
- 2023, Emerald Fennell, 1:38:29 from the start, in Saltburn:
- Oliver (Barry Keoghan): I don't normally like chocolate cake. / Elspeth (Rosamund Pike): Yes, it can be cloying, can't it?
Synonyms edit
- (unpleasantly excessive): exaggerated
- (excessively sweet): syrupy, treacly, oversweet, saccharine
Derived terms edit
Related terms edit
Translations edit
unpleasantly excessive
excessively sweet
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