cloying
adj/ˈklɔɪ.ɪŋ/
Etymology By surface analysis, cloy + -ing.
1
Unpleasantly excessive.
- The cloying fondness she displayed was what, in the end, drove me away.
- 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.August 16 2014, Daniel Taylor, "Swansea upstage Manchester United in Louis van Gaal’s Premier League bow," guardian.co.uk
2
Excessively sweet.
- Oliver (Barry Keoghan): I don't normally like chocolate cake. / Elspeth (Rosamund Pike): Yes, it can be cloying, can't it?2023, Emerald Fennell, 1:38:29 from the start, in Saltburn:
- Synonyms
- unpleasantly excessive, syrupy, treacly, oversweet, saccharine
- Derived terms
- cloyingly, cloyingness, noncloying, uncloying
- Related terms
- clove