as in sentimental
appealing to the emotions in an obvious and tiresome way
the cloying sentiments of so many Mother's Day cards
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of cloying
Snehaa Khanna Sahgal, Vogue, 26 Nov. 2025
Erivo and Grande have gotten flack for their joint press interviews that people perceive as codependent, cloying, and overly emotional.
—Kathleen Newman-Bremang, Refinery29, 22 Nov. 2025
And lest the moment lean too cloying or sentimental, this shot’s earnestness is undercut with a playful wink.
—Rebecca Alter, Vulture, 21 Nov. 2025
Mocha landed on the more cloying end and the Salted Caramel much more reminiscent of asking your barista to add just one or two flavor shots.
—Adam Campbell-Schmitt, Bon Appetit Magazine, 23 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for cloying
Adjective
Money woes will slowly leave you, as will that cloying streak of bad luck.
—Snehaa Khanna Sahgal, Vogue, 26 Nov. 2025
Erivo and Grande have gotten flack for their joint press interviews that people perceive as codependent, cloying, and overly emotional.
—Kathleen Newman-Bremang, Refinery29, 22 Nov. 2025
And lest the moment lean too cloying or sentimental, this shot’s earnestness is undercut with a playful wink.
—Rebecca Alter, Vulture, 21 Nov. 2025
Mocha landed on the more cloying end and the Salted Caramel much more reminiscent of asking your barista to add just one or two flavor shots.
—Adam Campbell-Schmitt, Bon Appetit Magazine, 23 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for cloying
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cloying
Adjective
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The performance also closed out the show, which was a star-studded, sentimental, and humorous send-off.—
Althea Legaspi,
Rolling Stone,
22 May 2026
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Such incidents serve as a stark reminder why storage facilities generally advise against storing valuable or sentimental items in a storage unit when possible.—
Kody Boye,
Miami Herald,
22 May 2026
Verb
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Instruments and voices accumulate into immense, sustained, saturating dissonances, with a snare drum cutting through the tear-gas haze.—
Alex Ross,
New Yorker,
18 May 2026
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Again, keep it at the base of your plant, not the leaves, and use a slow, saturating soak.—
Molly Burford,
Southern Living,
18 May 2026
Adjective
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Belonging to the same group of mammals as sloths and anteaters, armadillos are voracious insectivores that eat large numbers of beetles, grubs, ants, termites, and other insects, grabbing them with their sticky tongues.—
Arricca Elin SanSone,
Southern Living,
19 May 2026
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If a creature is small enough to swallow and not spiny or sticky or otherwise resists Yoshi's tongue, it will be turned into a green egg that's the series standard.—
Will Greenwald,
PC Magazine,
19 May 2026
Verb
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Both the San Diego utility and the state’s grid manager, the California Independent System Operator (CAISO), say the project is essential for meeting ambitious carbon reduction goals and alleviating constraint on power lines in Southern California during high demand.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
17 May 2026
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Substantial relief at the pump will only begin to arrive if tanker traffic resumes in the Strait of Hormuz, alleviating a historic oil shortage, Krishnamoorti said.—
Max Zahn,
ABC News,
12 May 2026
Adjective
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These Amazon finds are made for petite travelers who want to stay comfortable without defaulting to sloppy sweats.—
Chaise Sanders,
Travel + Leisure,
14 May 2026
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Spurs seemed to run out of energy and their passing became sloppy.—
Beren Cross,
New York Times,
11 May 2026
Verb
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Customers paid admission to destroy objects, and the experience became one where people could balance physically breaking things with mentally relieving stress.—
Michael Butler,
Miami Herald,
15 May 2026
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An ability to track stress based on quantitative measurements could empower people to take stress-relieving actions with direct benefits to their health.—
Adam Harrington,
CBS News,
14 May 2026
Adjective
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The movie is simultaneously more depressing than the original and more saccharine, with a repellent amount of affection between characters who should know better.—
Amy Nicholson,
Los Angeles Times,
29 Apr. 2026
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The symbol of the rainbow is saccharine, an easy metaphor, but who cares.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
29 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Cloying.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cloying. Accessed 24 May. 2026.
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