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
Sara Netzley, EW.com, 16 July 2025
This appealingly low-ABV cocktail—sherry typically clocks in at 15 to 20 percent—is perfect for folks who find vermouth to be a bit too cloying.
—Amiel Stanek, Bon Appetit Magazine, 11 July 2025
Why Guava Is Summer 2025's Breakout Flavor Guava might not be as familiar as strawberry or raspberry jam, but its flavor is instantly crave-worthy—slightly floral and naturally sweet without being cloying.
—Elizabeth Fogarty, Better Homes & Gardens, 5 July 2025
The alluring scent of chocolate, glorious chocolate, wafts toward you, sweet but not cloying, heady and intoxicating.
—Connie Ogle, Miami Herald, 27 June 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 2 Aug. 2025.
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