siren call
3
7.8
- noun
- /ˈsaɪrən kɔl/
:
canto de sirena
- The siren call of easy money can lead people into risky investments.
- resist the siren call
- ignore the siren call
- hear the siren call
Examples
-
To stay focused on this goal and to resist the siren call that comes from the authors.
Academic text (2016) -
Though, at times, this critique brought Tolstoy close to Maistre's subjectivism, he resisted the siren call of dogmatism.
Academic text (1999) -
Wishart did not answer, for he was listening only to the sea, which was issuing a strange siren call.
Fiction book (1994) -
If you resist the siren call of new car fever, you will save a lot of money and spend it on the things that are important to you.
Blog text (1) -
It's part memoir, part warning on censorship and part siren call to action.
-
The siren call of the impossible would lure me from my doubt into the open space of maybe, into the wild blue yonder of possibilities.
Fiction book (1994) -
Cash-strapped universities are all too susceptible to the siren call of corporatism.
Blog text (15) -
Personally, I would love to ban laptops from my classrooms because even the best students cannot resist the siren call of Facebook and become distracted.
Blog text (23) -
Thus, the appeal of the North was a Siren call to which exploited, overworked, and discriminated-against black people in the South responded enthusiastically.
Academic text (2017) -
It certainly seems that the cloyingly sweet siren call of lobbyist cash has made voters irrelevant within the political process.
Blog text (4)
Synonyms
40
3.2
A behavior that makes bad or dangerous things likely
29
4.3
A quality that tempts people by promising a reward
6
5.6
An action that persuades someone to do something wrong or unwise
2
8.3
A tempting offer that seems good but leads to trouble
How Alluring
192
3.8
3
7.8
8
6.2
526
1.0
∞
1.0
759
1.4
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'an alluring but potentially dangerous appeal' follows directly from combining 'siren' (a creature that lures with song) with 'call' (an appeal or summons). The metaphorical extension is straightforward and predictable from the constituents, so a B1 learner who knows both words would likely infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Siren call comes from old Greek stories where sea women called sirens sang a beautiful call that drew sailors onto rocks and caused shipwrecks. So, today a siren call means something that looks very attractive but is actually 'dangerous' or 'deceptive'.