How to Use cloy in a Sentence

cloy

verb
  • The thin glaze on top adds a bit of sweetness without being cloying.
    — Ann Taylor Pittman, Southern Living, 11 Oct. 2025
  • Most are cloying, and lacking in texture.
    — Chronicle Staff, San Francisco Chronicle, 22 Dec. 2025
  • Baked beans dosed to within an inch of their lives with sugary sweetness and cloying spice.
    — Robert F. Moss, Southern Living, 21 Feb. 2026
  • The eau de parfum has a warm spiciness that feels inviting, not cloying.
    — Malia Griggs, Glamour, 18 Dec. 2025
  • The use of music — more filler than necessary at times — is also cloying.
    — Alan Zilberman, Twin Cities, 4 July 2019
  • Sweet but not cloying, figs can go from breakfast to dinner to dessert without so much as a costume change.
    — Emily Saladino, Bon Appetit Magazine, 20 Sep. 2025
  • The whole thing manages to be sweet, and funny, and not cloying in the way of so much kid-centric programming.
    — Sophie Kemp, Vogue, 24 Dec. 2019
  • The shoes are charming but not cloying, nostalgic without trying to be.
    — Air Mail, 11 Oct. 2025
  • Tea also solves the most common problem of mocktails — cloying sweetness.
    — Joy Manning, Philly.com, 12 July 2018
  • The sugar and cocoa opening is sweet but not in that cloying way, and then the rum and cinnamon come through and wrap you like a warm hug.
    — Kimberly Wilson, Essence, 8 Dec. 2025
  • Frosting made with shortening can be cloying and one-note, while buttercream is more nuanced and rich.
    — Katie Rosenhouse, Southern Living, 16 Nov. 2025
  • Summer is not the time for cloying ouds, sugary gourmands, and heavy, woody scents that will linger in the heat and cause headaches to all those in your orbit.
    — Reece Andavolgyi, InStyle, 6 June 2026
  • The slight smokiness of the Scotch and the ginger cut through the oft-cloying sweetness and thick texture of the eggnog.
    — Alyse Whitney, Bon Appetit, 6 Dec. 2017
  • Anything that was grating, cloying, or that took any amount of patience to appreciate was not for me (this year, at least).
    — Rolling Stone, 29 Dec. 2025
  • Unlike some ports that can be cloying or alcoholic, explains Day-Toles.
    — Anna Lee C. Iijima, Bon Appetit Magazine, 10 Nov. 2025
  • The texture is robust yet polished, with a medium-full body that coats the mouth without becoming cloying.
    — Joseph V Micallef, Forbes.com, 26 May 2026
  • On the other hand, semi-sweet or milk chocolate can sometimes be cloying because there isn’t that bitter contrast.
    — Jennifer Farley, charlotteobserver, 10 Apr. 2018
  • The final cake manages to balance deep caramel bitterness with buttery sweetness for a flavor that’s rich but not cloying.
    — Kimberly Holland, Southern Living, 23 Dec. 2025
  • The result is not cloying, however, and mascarpone along with blackberry sauce keep the sugar in check.
    — Becky Krystal, Washington Post, 19 Oct. 2019
  • His bleak and jaded worldview is tempered by an unflagging, never cloying faith in love and its ability to transcend the muck and vile.
    — Carlos Valladares, SFChronicle.com, 4 Nov. 2019
  • Only at the start of April do these flowers begin to unfurl in delicate clusters, their petals heavy with dew and a sweet, cloying scent.
    — Amelia Dhuga, Vogue, 25 May 2026
  • In retrospect, some of the things that wouldn’t work quite as well about the series (like cloying, overobvious song choices) were present from the very first episode, too.
    — Todd Vanderwerff, Slate Magazine, 20 Dec. 2017
  • What wasn’t cloying in that finale on Sunday was the music — the orchestra swirling and shining, the chorus rich and full-bodied.
    — Zachary Woolfe, New York Times, 23 May 2017
  • Flavor-wise, the Forager Project shakes are quite mild, which someone who’s averse to cloying sweetness may appreciate.
    — Alaina Chou, Bon Appetit Magazine, 30 Oct. 2025
  • Well that’s because when the cookies are good, there’s little else that’s so perfectly fudgy but not dense, sweet but not cloying, satisfying, without putting you over the edge.
    — Alex Pastron, Bon Appétit, 4 Feb. 2020
  • What might smell delicious and inviting to one may seem saccharine or cloying to another; some folks prefer cleaner, brighter scents, while others reach for the musky, woodsy ones.
    — Betsy Cribb Watson, Southern Living, 25 Nov. 2025
  • This batch is no exception, and 102 gives enough pop and viscosity without things becoming cloying.
    — David Thomas Tao, Forbes.com, 21 June 2026
  • All that whimsy and quirk might have been cloying, but the film has real things on its mind, including the mundane disappointments and insecurities of adult life.
    — Richard Lawson, HollywoodReporter, 31 Jan. 2026
  • The high-altitude climate maximizes wood extraction, contributing a clean, crisp tannic edge that keeps the whisky from feeling cloying.
    — Joseph V Micallef, Forbes.com, 23 May 2026
  • Other brands’ seltzers were perfectly dry, but the synthetic flavors felt cloying in their own way and left an unpleasantly bitter aftertaste.
    — Esther Mobley, SFChronicle.com, 20 Aug. 2019

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'cloy.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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