bedfellow

bed·fel·low | \ ˈbed-ˌfe-(ˌ)lō

Definition of bedfellow

1 : one who shares a bed with another

2 : a person or thing closely associated with another : ally political bedfellows —often used in the phrase strange bedfellows to describe an unlikely alliance of people or thingsPolitics indeed makes strange bedfellows and on the issue of local regulation of pesticides, environmental and states' rights advocates have joined forces.— Elena S. RutrickPolities and good architecture are strange bedfellows, but in Barcelona the marriage has worked.— Cathleen McGuigan

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Examples of bedfellow in a Sentence

a child-welfare cause that has made bedfellows of activists who are normally on opposite ends of the political spectrum

Recent Examples on the Web For Ricketts, whose sister is gay and active in L.G.B.T. advocacy—and whose uncle was gay and died of AIDS—Cuccinelli seemed like an odd political bedfellow. — Alex Kotlowitz, The New Yorker, "Trump Collides with the World of Baseball," 20 Oct. 2020 The art economy and its bedfellow, tourism, have made nature more valuable unspoiled. — Lucy Jakub, The New York Review of Books, "Maine’s Sublime Canvas of Contradictions," 12 Sep. 2020 My new bedfellow has a stable clip for attachment, a flexible neck that can turn every which way, and a slim head with a slender rectangle that graciously sheds light on my reading material of choice. — Abigail Glasgow, SELF, "This $16 Book Light Actually Gets Me Into Bed at a Normal Time," 6 Aug. 2020 There are plenty of reasons Deutsche Telekom AG and Vodafone Group Plc make for uneasy bedfellows. — Alex Webb | Bloomberg, Washington Post, "In the Age of 5G, the Hottest Telecom Assets Are ... Towers," 18 Nov. 2019 Cops and serial killers make strange bedfellows, but John Nolan might not have a choice on The Rookie season finale. — Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, "See the return of serial killer Rosalind Dyer in The Rookie season finale sneak peek," 7 May 2020 Adversity makes strange bedfellows and the Covid-19 pandemic is no exception: Big tobacco has joined the race to contain the new coronavirus. — Carol Ryan, WSJ, "A Vaccine Wildcard From Big Tobacco," 1 Apr. 2020 History often results in strange confluences and bedfellows. — Shannon Pufahl, The New York Review of Books, "Numbering the Dead," 21 Apr. 2020 In years past, Fog has been an intersection of many worlds that don’t often gather in this town: fine artists, architects, interior designers, contractors, art collectors: odd bedfellows of design. — George Mccalman, SFChronicle.com, "San Francisco Public Library’s Night of Ideas lights up the city," 25 Feb. 2020

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'bedfellow.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.