Elysa Gardner 
Did you know?
We won’t bore you with the sappy tale behind the word cloying, because happily, there isn’t one. That’s because its history isn’t sweet, but rather tough as nails. Cloying comes from the verb cloy, which had among its earliest uses the meaning (to quote the Oxford English Dictionary) “to render [a gun] useless by driving a spike or plug into the touch-hole.” This ultra-specific sense of clogging and stuffing arose alongside both broader and figurative ones, including “to fill or choke up,” and cloy has since come to mean “to supply or indulge to excess.” Accordingly, cloying implies a nauseating amount of something that might be pleasing in smaller doses, especially both literal and metaphorical sweetness.
Examples of cloying in a Sentence
Nina Metz, Chicago Tribune, 3 Apr. 2025
The fragrance is sweet yet refined, never cloying or childish.
—Danielle James, Vogue, 1 Apr. 2025
Vanilla fragrances reign during the winter months but March and April present with some challenges for gourmand lovers as the note can feel heavy and cloying in warmer weather.
—Bea McMonagle, Forbes.com, 31 Mar. 2025
Pro tip: Mixing in a bit of salt to the pour brings out more of the fruit and spice notes and takes away some of the cloying sweetness, said Enright.
—Ryan Deto, Axios, 7 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for cloying
Cite this Entry
“Cloying.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cloying. Accessed 30 Apr. 2025.
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