# strange bedfellows

idiom

Source: https://englishreference.com/idiom/strange-bedfellows
Updated: 2026-08-10

## Meaning

An unusual combination or political alliance.

## Examples

- Those two rival companies are strange bedfellows in this new project.
- The environmental group and the oil company became strange bedfellows to support the new tax law.
- In the volatile world of local politics, the radical activist and the conservative mayor proved to be strange bedfellows during the recent election.

## Origin

1610, from Shakespeare's The Tempest.

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