Meanings
- gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of cloy
comparative more cloying · superlative most cloying
- Unpleasantly excessive.
The cloying fondness she displayed was what, in the end, drove me away.
1 more example
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 - 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 SaltburnSynonyms: syrupy, treacly, oversweet, saccharine
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveExcessively sweet.
More synonyms by meaning
adjectiveoverly sweet
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
By surface analysis, cloy + -ing.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian пресищащ, възсладък
- пресищащ (presištašt)unpleasantly excessive
- възсладък (văzsladăk)excessively sweet
Catalan embafador, embafador
- embafadorunpleasantly excessive
- embafadorexcessively sweet
Czech přeslazený
- přeslazenýexcessively sweet
Danish vammel, vammelsød
- vammelunpleasantly excessive
- vammelsødexcessively sweet
Dutch buitenissig, excessief
- buitenissigunpleasantly excessive
- excessiefunpleasantly excessive
- mierzoetexcessively sweet
- stroperigexcessively sweet
- zeemzoetexcessively sweet
Finnish imelä, imelä
- imeläunpleasantly excessive
- imeläexcessively sweet
- äiteläexcessively sweet
French écœurant
- écœurantexcessively sweet
German übertrieben, süßlich
- übertriebenunpleasantly excessive
- süßlichexcessively sweet
- rührseligexcessively sweet
- gefühlsduseligexcessively sweet
Hungarian émelyítő, túlzott
- émelyítőunpleasantly excessive
- túlzottunpleasantly excessive
- émelygősunpleasantly excessive
- eltúlzottunpleasantly excessive
- émelyítőexcessively sweet
- túl édesexcessively sweet
Irish rómhilis
- rómhilisexcessively sweet
Italian stucchevole, sdolcinato
- stucchevoleunpleasantly excessive
- sdolcinatoexcessively sweet
- stucchevoleexcessively sweet
Japanese 甘ったるい
- 甘ったるい (amattarui)excessively sweet
Russian слаща́вый, слаща́вый
- слаща́вый (slaščávyj)unpleasantly excessive
- слаща́вый (slaščávyj)excessively sweet
- при́торный (prítornyj)excessively sweet
Spanish empalagoso, empachoso
- empalagosounpleasantly excessive
- empachosounpleasantly excessive
- empalagosoexcessively sweet
Swedish sliskig, sötsliskig
- sliskigexcessively sweet
- sötsliskigexcessively sweet
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with cloying
All rhymes →Cite this entry
cloying. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cloying
“cloying.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cloying. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cloying,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cloying.
Source: cloying on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.