fatal attraction

fatal attraction

1. In a romantic relationship, an attraction to the very qualities in a person that ultimately lead to the relationship falling apart. John had a fatal attraction to the wild, uninhibited life Cynthia led, but she cared more about "living free" than having a functional relationship. I was completely enamored by his self-confidence and charm, but it was just a fatal attraction to a man who turned out to be a complete narcissist.
2. An intense and obsessive infatuation with another person, especially by a spurned lover, that might lead to harassment or violence. A: "I broke up with Chris over two months ago, but he's still constantly checking in on me and even started threatening this new guy I started seeing." B: "Whoa, talk about a fatal attraction."
See also: attraction
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

fatal attraction

An affinity for something or someone inherently harmful. This twentieth-century term appears in such locutions as, “Even after the deaths of hundreds of climbers, Mt. Everest continues to exert a fatal attraction for many mountaineers.” It was used as the title of a 1987 motion picture about a happily married man who has a weekend affair with a beautiful woman; she turns out to be psychotic and tries to destroy his and his family’s life.
See also: attraction
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • rebound relationship
  • eternal triangle
  • eternal triangle, the
  • FBO
  • ménage à trois
  • Facebook
  • Facebook official
  • FB
  • Are you single?
  • ship name
References in classic literature
Knots of people, impelled by a fatal attraction, lurked outside any house in which he was known to be, listening for fragments of his discourses to the inmates; and, when he was rumoured to be coming down the stairs, often could not disperse so quickly but that he would be prematurely in among them, demanding their own arrears, and rooting them to the spot.
The stalker movie arguably peaked in the late eighties/early nineties with Fatal Attraction and Single White Female.
JIMMY: I was going to say a bit Fatal Attraction. She's pretty much propositioning the judge, Will.
SURANNE Jones going all Fatal Attraction in yet another all-men-are-bastards BBC drama Doctor Foster.
Atlanta, GA, September 09, 2015 --(PR.com)-- The Towanna Brinkley-Arthur Lee Sanford case will be featured on the next episode of Fatal Attraction. Fatal Attraction is a weekly crime documentary program that airs on TV One on Monday nights.
Despite taking a lead from such favourites as Fatal Attraction and Pacific Heights, the film's well-worn concept is re-energised with some ingenious plot swerves and a last-act shock right up there with Gone Girl.
Gail returns home from her honeymoon to find No 8 in total chaos, and blames Sarah's fatal attraction to Callum for everything.
| Bad hare day: Glen Close |takes it out on the family pet when Michael Douglas ends their affair in Fatal Attraction 1 FATAL ATTRACTION (1987) MICHAEL Douglas plays a married man whose lover (Glenn Close) becomes a pet-stewing stalker who terrorises his family in the film from which the term 'bunny boiler' originates.
This is a sort of genderreversed Fatal Attraction with Jennifer Lopez starring as a high school English teacher back in the dating game after separating from her cheating husband.
HOUSTON -- A Texas oncologist was obsessed with and had a ''fatal attraction'' to her fellow physician lover, whose rejection prompted her to poison him by lacing his coffee with ethylene glycol, prosecutors said Monday as her aggravated assault trial began.
Rather than play the haughty Hollywood star, she met her opponents face-to-face in an encounter now dramatized by Emmy-winning producer Terry Jastrow in an emotive if psychologically shallow one-act debuting at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and starring his wife and "Fatal Attraction" star Anne Archer.
The show wrapped last August, freeing McElhone up to work on other projects - including a stint from March to June in a stage adaptation of Fatal Attraction on London's West End, playing the bunny-boiling mistress made famous by Glenn Close.
Glenn scared the living daylights out of a whole generation of men in the Eighties when she starred alongside Michael Douglas in the controversial movie Fatal Attraction (and a whole generation of kids with her trun as Cruella de Vil) but there is nothing fatal about her attraction to Mr Armani.
New York, June 5 ( ANI ): Glenn Close has revealed that her portrayal of vengeful Alex Forrest in 'Fatal Attraction' had a fatal flaw, as it contributed to misunderstanding of mental illness.
Having visited Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo last year, I was thrilled to see your article about the park's lava lake (Fatal attraction, July 2012).