fellow traveler

American  

noun

1. a person who supports or sympathizes with a political party, especially the Communist Party, but is not an enrolled member.

2. anyone who, although not a member, supports or sympathizes with some organization, movement, or the like.

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fellow traveler Cultural  

1. 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.

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Other Word Forms

• fellow-traveling adjective

Etymology

Origin of fellow traveler

1605–15, for literal sense

Example Sentences

The Kent exit put Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, his former boss and fellow traveler, in a most uncomfortable spot.

From Slate • Mar. 21, 2026

Nashville assumes a conservative audience, and that audience assumes they’re hearing from a fellow traveler.

From Salon • Feb. 4, 2026

This last comment came from a fellow traveler, ruefully disclosing an act of self-defense many years ago.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 9, 2025

Two weeks earlier, on the far side of the country, a fellow traveler had pointed at a map and described the crumbling buildings here, in Dhahran al-Janub, arranged in a colorful open-air museum.

From New York Times • Jun. 5, 2024

It was at this point that we saw our first fellow traveler.

From "The Ugly One" by Leanne Statland Ellis