bedfellow
Americannoun
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Also called bedmate. a person who shares one's bed.
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an associate or collaborator, especially one who forms a temporary alliance for reasons of expediency.
Politics makes strange bedfellows.
noun
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a person with whom one shares a bed
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a temporary ally or associate
Etymology
Origin of bedfellow
First recorded in 1400–50, bedfellow is from the late Middle English word bedfelow. See bed, fellow
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Strange Bedfellows: Artificial intelligence initially threatened to replace consultants.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 15, 2026
It was the same as cash, good for any purchase on Amazon, from the countertop appliance category to jewellery to diapers to the hilarious mob mystery novel "Bedfellows".
From The Guardian • Nov. 25, 2012
MIKE: Yeah, it's a comic crime novel called Bedfellows and you wrote it.
From Slate • Oct. 16, 2012
But for me, the creature I put in "Bedfellows" was the boogeyman that I used to imagine as a kid.
From Salon • Apr. 14, 2011
Mr. Falconer had intended to devote a sulphurous morning to the completion of "Strange Bedfellows."
From A Knight on Wheels by Hay, Ian
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
