cloy
/klɔɪ
/verb [with object] (usually as adjective cloying)
Disgust or sicken (someone) with an excess of sweetness, richness, or sentiment: a romantic, rather cloying story [no object]: the first sip gives a malty taste that never cloys...
- The juice from grapes harvested at optimum ripeness for wine has a rather cloying sweetness which can overshadow the refreshing acidity.
- That the nostalgic bent can lapse into cloying sentimentality is obvious.
- He does not attempt to jazz things up with cloying camerawork and jarring technique in an effort to be stylish.
Synonyms
become sickening, become nauseating, pall, become distasteful, become tedious, become tiresome;
be excessive
sickly sweet, sugary, syrupy, saccharine, honeyed, oversweet;
sickening, nauseating, disgusting;
mawkish, maudlin, sentimental, over-sentimental;
British twee
informal over the top, OTT, mushy, slushy, sloppy, cutesy, cute, gooey, drippy, treacly, cheesy, corny, icky, sick-making
North American informal cornball, sappy
Derivatives
cloyingly
/ adverb ...- Many have seen the work as escapist or cloyingly sentimental.
- This, however, tasted the way squid should - it was delicately marinated, rather than cloyingly covered in soy sauce, and had the texture of beautifully done scallops rather than over-cooked inner tubes.
- The public perception of these wines as a whole is that they are cloyingly sweet, a perception has that damaged the grape's image no matter where it is produced.
Origin
Late Middle English: shortening of obsolete accloy 'stop up, choke', from Old French encloyer 'drive a nail into', from medieval Latin inclavare, from clavus 'a nail'.