fellow traveler

See more synonyms for fellow traveler on Thesaurus.com

noun

a person who supports or sympathizes with a political party, especially the Communist Party, but is not an enrolled member.
anyone who, although not a member, supports or sympathizes with some organization, movement, or the like.

Origin of fellow traveler

1605–15, for literal sense

Related formsfel·low-trav·el·ing

[fel-oh-trav-uh-ling, -trav-ling] /ˌfɛl oʊˌtræv ə lɪŋ, -ˈtræv lɪŋ/, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for fellow traveler

companion, comrade, sidekick, supporter, sympathizer

Examples from the Web for fellow traveler

Contemporary Examples of fellow traveler

Keep pumping in money while appointing some fellow-traveler bloggers to run GM?
Obama's Tough Love for Detroit
Paul Kedrosky
March 31, 2009

Historical Examples of fellow traveler

It was not this type of fellow-traveler whom he hoped to keep out.
Love Among the Chickens
P. G. Wodehouse
One was my Irish fellow-traveler, the other was his daughter.
Love Among the Chickens
P. G. Wodehouse
This accounted for the peculiar sentiments of my fellow-traveler!
The Land of Thor
J. Ross Browne
The fellow-traveler followed her, for nobody could see him, as he was invisible.
Rudy and Babette
Hans Christian Andersen
She was my fellow-traveler in the Tiverton diligence from Exeter.
Letters of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Vol. I (of 2)
Samuel Taylor Coleridge

fellow traveler in Culture

fellow traveler

One who supports the aims or philosophies of a political group without joining it. A “fellow traveler” is usually one who sympathizes with communist doctrines but is not a member of the Communist party. The term was used disparagingly in the 1950s to describe people accused of being communists.