cupboard lovenoun [ U ]
uk/ˈkʌb.əd ˌlʌv/us/ˈkʌb.ɚd ˌlʌv/UKlove shown by someone, typically a child, in order to get something that they want, such as food
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Affected & insincere
- affectation
- affected
- artificial
- artsy-fartsy
- arty-farty
- cheesy
- forced
- glib
- histrionic
- histrionics
- hokey
- meretricious
- pious
- precocious
- pretension
- pretentious
- pseud
- pseudo-
- slick
- theatrical
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Praising insincerely or too eagerly
Examples from literature
- He wants love, not gifts, from his people, a love which on their part does not fawn for other gifts from him in return, like the cupboard love of kittens purring for cream.
- Not that there was any cupboard love in his little sweet—she was a bundle of affection.
- Perhaps my enthusiasm for California sounds a little like cupboard love.
- Then, with the rather bitter cynicism of the old, he wondered for a second whether it was not cupboard love which made Irene put up with him.