femme fatale

[ fem fuh-tal, -tahl, fey-; French fam fa-tal ]

noun

, plural femmes fa·tales [fem f, uh, -, talz, -, tahlz, fey-, f, a, m f, a, -, tal].

1. an irresistibly attractive woman, especially one who leads men into difficult, dangerous, or disastrous situations; siren.

femme fatale

/ fam fatal; -ˈtɑːl; ˈfɛm fəˈtæl /

noun

1. an alluring or seductive woman, esp one who causes men to love her to their own distress

Word History and Origins

Origin of femme fatale¹

< French: literally, fatal woman

Word History and Origins

Origin of femme fatale¹

fatal woman

Example Sentences

There is a heist motif running through the film and an amnesia motif and a noirish femme fatale motif too.

From The Daily Beast

In The Rum Diary, Amber Heard nearly steals the show from Johnny Depp as the glamorous femme fatale.

From The Daily Beast

Sometimes they bring out the femme fatale who uses her sexuality like a weapon.

From The Daily Beast

When the two began dating in 2005, Winehouse was hardly the rock-around-the-clock femme fatale she would later become.

From The Daily Beast

She's the femme-fatale on steroids and on the surface, she seems to suggest the writer's belief in gender equality.

From The Daily Beast

To impressionable spectators she seemed a real femme fatale.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• courtesan
• temptress
• vamp