bedridden

bedridden — adjective

1. unable to leave your bed for a long period because you are very sick, badly hurt

1.adjectiveC2
Definition

unable to leave your bed for a long period because you are very sick, badly hurt, or too weak from old age to get up and move around.

Example

Grandma Lin has been bedridden since her hip surgery in March.

be bedridden since [event] for the cause of immobility

A bad case of pneumonia left Noa bedridden for almost three weeks.

leave someone bedridden for [duration]

Common collocations
  • bedridden patient
  • bedridden grandmother
  • leave someone bedridden
  • bedridden for weeks
  • bedridden with the flu
  • bedridden since
Synonyms
  • bedfast

    rare; mostly older medical writing, same meaning

  • confined to bed

    neutral phrasal alternative, used in medical reports

  • immobile

    broader — describes any inability to move, not specifically tied to bed

Antonyms
  • ambulatory

    medical term for a patient who can walk around

  • mobile

    general term for someone able to move freely

Grammar Patterns

be bedridden with [illness]

leave someone bedridden

Usage Note

Almost always describes a state lasting weeks, months, or years — not a single day in bed with a cold. Subjects are typically people who are seriously ill, recovering from major surgery, or very old.

Common Mistakes

I was bedridden yesterday with a headache.
I stayed in bed yesterday with a headache.
'bedridden' implies long-term inability to get up, not one day of resting.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

All four describe a person who cannot get up, but they differ in scope and register. 'Bedridden' is the everyday word in news, fiction, and family talk; it strongly suggests a long-term state caused by serious illness, injury, or old age. 'Bedfast' has the same meaning but is rare and old-fashioned, mostly seen in older medical or nursing texts. 'Confined to bed' is a neutral phrase doctors use in reports and is often shorter-term — a patient may be confined to bed for three days after surgery without being called bedridden. 'Immobile' is the broadest: it covers anyone who cannot move, including people in wheelchairs, so it is not specific to bed at all. Choose 'bedridden' when the picture is clearly someone stuck in bed for weeks or longer.

bedridden ↗bedfastconfined to bedimmobile ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • bedridden patient
  • bedridden parent
  • bedridden grandmother
  • bedridden relative
  • bedridden elderly

Adverbs

  • completely bedridden
  • almost bedridden
  • permanently bedridden
  • virtually bedridden

Phrases

  • leave someone bedridden
  • become bedridden
  • fall bedridden
  • lie bedridden

Prepositions

  • bedridden with (an illness)
  • bedridden for (a period)
  • bedridden since (a date or event)

Etymology

Old EnglishMiddle EnglishEnglish

The word goes back to Old English 'bedrida' or 'bedreda', literally meaning 'a bed-rider' — someone who 'rides' the bed instead of riding a horse. By Middle English the form had shifted to 'bedrede', and the ending '-rede' was later mistaken for the past participle '-ridden' (as in 'ridden by a horse'), giving the modern spelling 'bedridden'. The image of being carried by the bed, the way a rider is carried by a horse, has stayed in the word for over a thousand years.