Nearby Words

cloying

[kloi-ing] Example Sentences Origin

cloy·ing

[kloi-ing]
adjective
1.
causing or tending to cause disgust or aversion through excess: a perfume of cloying sweetness.
2.
overly ingratiating or sentimental.

Origin:
1540–50; cloy + -ing2

cloy·ing·ly, adverb
un·cloy·ing, adjective

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Cloying is a GRE word you need to know.
So is plethora. Does it mean:
excess
make amends for
Example Sentences
  • Straightforward corn bread offers a little kick, banana cream pie is ultra-custardy, and pecan pie is not cloying.
  • At other times, though, it is cloying and even claustrophobic.
  • They also permit a degree of whimsy that may seem cloying in a restaurant.
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Dictionary.com Unabridged

cloy

[kloi]
verb (used with object)
1.
to weary by an excess of food, sweetness, pleasure, etc.; surfeit; satiate.
verb (used without object)
2.
to become uninteresting or distasteful through overabundance: A diet of cake and candy soon cloys.

Origin:
1350–1400; aphetic variant of Middle English acloyen < Middle French enclo(y)er < Late Latin inclāvāre to nail in, equivalent to in- in-2 + -clāvāre, verbal derivative of clāvus nail

o·ver·cloy, verb (used with object)
un·cloyed, adjective


1. glut, sate, bore.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source Link To cloying
Collins
World English Dictionary
cloying (ˈklɔɪɪŋ)
 
adj
initially pleasurable or sweet but wearying in excess
 
'cloyingly
 
adv

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

cloy
1530, aphetic of Anglo-Norm. acloyer, from O.Fr. enclouer "to fasten with a nail, hinder, cripple a horse by driving a nail into the hoof," from clou "a nail," from V.L. inclavare, from L. clavus "a nail" (see slot (2)). Meaning "to fill to loathing, surfeit" is first recorded 1530.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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