bedfellow

[ bed-fel-oh ]

noun

1. Also called bedmate. a person who shares one's bed.
2. an associate or collaborator, especially one who forms a temporary alliance for reasons of expediency:

   Politics makes strange bedfellows.

bedfellow

/ ˈbɛdˌfɛləʊ /

noun

1. a person with whom one shares a bed
2. a temporary ally or associate

Word History and Origins

Origin of bedfellow¹

First recorded in 1400–50, bedfellow is from the late Middle English word bedfelow. See bed, fellow

Example Sentences

He was far from a natural bedfellow of Jeremy Corbyn but insisted the left-wing campaigner - who opposed nearly all of what New Labour stood for - had "proved himself", and urged dissident MPs to support him.

From BBC

Songs are living organisms — you have to keep breathing life into them or giving them new bedfellows.

From Los Angeles Times

“There are a lot of strange bedfellows corroborating each other and people from the highest levels to the lowest levels.”

From Salon

It immediately prompted controversy in swaths of the country with high property values, and created strange bedfellows among Republican and Democratic lawmakers from these states.

From Los Angeles Times

Since China is its biggest trading partner, Brazil is comfortable maintaining close relations with Beijing, even if the Brics grouping provides it with some "strange bedfellows", as Mr Zeidan puts it.

From BBC

Related Words

• caller
• client
• companion
• customer
• inmate
• patron
• recipient
• tenant
• vacationer
• visitor