bedridden
Americanadjective
adjective
Etymology
Origin of bedridden
1300–50; Middle English, variant (by confusion with past participle of ride ) of bedrid
Explanation
Someone who's bedridden is so sick or elderly that they can't get out of bed. Your friend might have such a bad case of the flu that she's bedridden for several days and can't go to work or school. Most people who are bedridden are terribly ill and confined to their bed — or a hospital bed — until they recover. Very old people might also be bedridden because of weakness or pain. The word comes from the Old English bæddrædæn, "bedridden man," from the roots bedd, "bed," and rida, "rider."
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.
My mother is bedridden and has very limited use of her hands.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 27, 2026
My 91-year-old mother is bedridden in an assisted-living memory-care facility in Virginia.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 27, 2026
Anthony Darrell Hines, 66, who has maintained his innocence for four years and is bedridden, is scheduled to be executed in Tennessee on Thursday under the same protocol that failed twelve weeks ago with Carruthers.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
Janet Vigo, a nail-salon technician, prepared four boxes of adult diapers and a rechargeable fan for her 84-year-old bedridden grandmother, who recently broke her hip.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
And when he became bedridden, she turned him on his side every hour so he wouldn’t get a bedsore.
From "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini
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.
