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odds
[ odz ]
noun
- the probability that something is so, will occur, or is more likely to occur than something else:
The odds are that it will rain today.
- the ratio of probability that something is so, will occur, or is more likely to occur than something else.
- this ratio used as the basis of a bet; the ratio by which the bet of one party to a wager exceeds that of the other, granted by one of two betting opponents to equalize the chances favoring one of them:
The odds are two-to-one that it won't rain today.
- an equalizing allowance, as that given the weaker person or team in a contest; handicap.
- an advantage or degree of superiority on the side of two contending parties; a difference favoring one of two contestants.
- an amount or degree by which one thing is better or worse than another.
odds
/ ɒ /
plural noun
- foll byon or against the probability, expressed as a ratio, that a certain event will take place
the odds against the outsider are a hundred to one
- the amount, expressed as a ratio, by which the wager of one better is greater than that of another
he was offering odds of five to one
- the likelihood that a certain state of affairs will be found to be so
the odds are that he is drunk
- the chances or likelihood of success in a certain undertaking
their odds were very poor after it rained
- an equalizing allowance, esp one given to a weaker side in a contest
- the advantage that one contender is judged to have over another
the odds are on my team
- a significant difference (esp in the phrase it makes no odds )
- at odds
- on bad terms
- appearing not to correspond or match
the silvery hair was at odds with her youthful shape
- give odds or lay oddsto offer a bet with favourable odds
- take oddsto accept such a bet
- over the odds
- more than is expected, necessary, etc
he got two pounds over the odds for this job
- unfair or excessive
- what's the odds? informal.what difference does it make?
Idioms and Phrases
- at odds, at variance; in disagreement:
They were usually at odds over political issues.
- by all odds, in every respect; by far; undoubtedly: Also by long odds, by odds.
She is by all odds the brightest child in the family.
More idioms and phrases containing odds
- against all odds
- at odds
- by all odds
- lay odds
Example Sentences
Sheikh Mohammed said that they were "trying to find a breakthrough" but added that Israel and Hamas remained at odds on what a ceasefire would entail.
The odds of such an event may be remote — we don't actually know how likely this all is — but we do know the likelihood isn't zero and it will increase as the world's ice retreats.
Both find themselves increasingly at odds with Washington.
It was a club that had defied the odds just a few years earlier by finishing second in the Eredivisie in 1998-99 and reaching the Champions League.
This classic Eastside story centers Ana García, a headstrong teen with educational aspirations, who is often at odds with her traditional, menopausal Mexican mother, Carmen.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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