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“Strange bedfellows” is a phrase coined by Shakespeare. Its full context is “Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.” It has come to mean finding oneself in a difficult situation forces one to associate with a condition or person (or persons) that they would not normally have anything to do with. Origin of “strange bedfellows”
A peculiar alliance or combination, as in George and Arthur really are strange bedfellows, sharing the same job but totally different in their views . Although strictly speaking bedfellows are persons who share a bed, like husband and wife, the term has been used figuratively since the late 1400s.
strange bedfellows. A pair of people, things, or groups connected in a certain situation or activity but extremely different in overall characteristics, opinions, ideologies, lifestyles, behaviors, etc.
Politics may make strange bedfellows, but economic crises make even stranger ones. But then again, politics makes strange bedfellows and favours are sometimes rewarded with unquestioned loyalty. They say that adversity breeds strange bedfellows, and it has been a bizarre week.
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 things.
What's the meaning of the phrase 'Adversity makes strange bedfellows'? The proverbial saying ‘adversity makes strange bedfellows’ suggests that, in times of trouble, people who wouldn’t normally associate with each other may form an alliance.
When Trinculo seeks shelter from a storm under the cloak of a creature he's very unsure about - he wonders if it's a man or a fish - he comments "misery acquaints a man with strange bed-fellows." (The Tempest, Act 2, Scene 2) Modern example:
