adjective

• Very embarrassing or excessively sentimental.

  More example sentences

  • ‘a toe-curling ballad’
  • ‘The self-satisfaction and smugness of the text is toe-curling and its frequent sickening doses of sentimentality are like being forced-fed chopped liver with chicken fat.’
  • ‘This is an approximation, the original was even more toe-curling, if you can believe it.’
  • ‘When we catch up on the phone it's to discuss her latest short-lived conquest, the details of which are usually colourful, sometimes toe-curling and always entertaining.’
  • ‘Halligan's efforts at cheeky humour were toe-curling.’
  • ‘It's a toe-curling moment in a frequently stupid film.’
  • ‘The slipshod nature of so much of Kilmarnock's efforts throughout the afternoon was toe-curling.’
  • ‘The blissful expression on the instructors face was toe-curling.’
  • ‘But in the end the film is sunk by toe-curling dialogue and transparently awkward emoting.’
  • ‘It was only a couple of minutes after his toe-curling DJ'ing started that I gave up and turned over.’
  • ‘It may not be the dirtiest election in history, but it will almost certainly be the most toe-curling.’
  • ‘I would love to avoid the toe-curling surprise presentation of a leaving card.’
  • ‘Where can you meet the sanctimonious priest who knows more than he's letting on, the drunken father making a toe-curling speech at his daughter's wedding, or the schoolboy with unspeakable personal habits?’
  • ‘Another toe-curling fact is that while it costs on average £3.5m to make a solo British movie, they typically take in less than £1m at the box office.’
  • ‘Each of the six separate playlets showcased a man-woman relationship, pinpointing toe-curling aspects of British life across the spectrum and behind the net curtains.’
  • ‘The second, though not quite matching the first's coruscating brilliance, was still peppered with hysterical moments and the usual quota of toe-curling tomfoolery.’
  • ‘This show is really just an excuse to rehash some old jokes, routines and toe-curling audience singalongs within a theatrical format.’
  • ‘The toe-curling sex scenes alone, which only the Spanish seem able to deliver, make the rental fee a small price to pay.’
  • ‘As an exercise in cheerleading it was a toe-curling disaster.’
  • ‘He lacks any backbone, as becomes apparent during the toe-curling dinner party that forms the play.’
  • ‘We miss its toe-curling political incorrectness, its shabby vulgarity, its embarrassed actors, and its toilet-roll scripts.’

  Synonyms

  banal, trite, hackneyed, commonplace, clichéd, predictable, stereotyped, platitudinous, inane, fatuous, vapid, jejune, weak, feeble, tired, stale, overworked, overused, well worn