noun ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The ratio of the probability of an event happening to that of it not happening. plural, plural-only

   "I'd say the odds are strongly in favor of the sun rising tomorrow morning."

2. 2
   plural of odd form-of, plural
3. 3
   plural of ODD form-of, plural
4. 4
   the likelihood of a thing occurring rather than not occurring wordnet
5. 5
   The ratio of winnings to stake in betting situations. plural, plural-only

   "I looked at the odds given by all bookmakers."

Show 2 more definitions

6. 6
   the ratio by which one better's wager is greater than that of another wordnet
7. 7
   An advantage given to a weaker opponent in order to equalize the game when playing casually, usually by removing one of the stronger player's pieces or by giving the weaker player more time. plural, plural-only

   "She beat me with knight odds but lost with rook odds."

Synonyms

All synonyms

ace in the holeadvantageagreement to disagreeallowanceaptitudeasymmetry

Example

More examples

"The odds are against me, so I think I'll quit now."

Etymology

From odd (“uneven, strange”).

Related phrases

against all oddsat all oddsat oddsbeat the oddsby all oddseven oddsfixed oddsimplied oddslay oddslong oddsmake no oddsmay the odds be ever in your favor

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.