strange bedfellows
5
6.6
- noun
- /streɪndʒ ˈbɛdˌfɛloʊz/
- Informal
:
extraños compañeros de cama
- 292 Politics indeed makes strange bedfellows, and on the issue of local regulation of pesticides, environmental and states' rights advocates have joined forces.
- make strange bedfellows
Steve Bannon, bizarrely, we find ourselves strange bedfellows with.
- Steve Bannon, bizarrely, we find ourselves strange bedfellows with.
- So you know at a glance, this is a pair of strange bedfellows.
Examples
-
"Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows."
Fiction book (1999) -
Did I just read something in the recent news that politics can make new and strange bedfellows?
Blog text (34) -
Chance, like politics, can make strange bedfellows.
Fiction book (1998) -
Action and comedy are nearly always strange bedfellows.
Blog text (12) -
Every once in a while, necessity brings strange bedfellows together towards a common goal.
Blog text (32) -
Exile makes for strange bedfellows.
Fiction book (1991) -
Politics and religion make strange bedfellows, don't they?
Blog text (7) -
Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.
-
The environmental challenge and the flip side of globalization are strange bedfellows that may find a common cause.
Academic text (2002) -
In opposing the Grand Teton expansion, NPA found itself with strange bedfellows: ranchers, irrigationists, and developers.
How Unusual
- Informal
5
6.6
843
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase directly combines 'strange' (unusual) with 'bedfellow' (an ally or partner, often unexpected), so the meaning 'people or things unexpectedly allied or associated' is readily derivable from the constituents. While 'bedfellow' is somewhat idiomatic, the adjective + noun composition is transparent and predictable for learners who know both words.
Etymology
The phrase strange bedfellows comes from the simple image of people who must share a bed, the fellows, even though they would not normally be together. One famous line says 'misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows', and that picture explains why we use the phrase to mean 'people or things joined in an unusual or unexpected way'.