Meaning of odds In English

• 0 the probability (= how likely it is) that a particular thing will or will not happen:

  • If you drive a car all your life, the odds are that you'll have an accident at some point.

  • There are heavy odds against people succeeding in such a bad economic climate.

  • What are the odds on him being (= do you think he will be) re-elected?

  • The overall odds of winning a lottery prize are 1 in 13.

  • The odds are stacked against a woman succeeding (= it is not likely that a woman will succeed) in the business.

  • The odds against my horse winning (= that it will not win)/on my horse winning (= that it will win) are a hundred to one.

  • The odds that the US entrant will win the race are ten to one.

• 1 the likelihood that a particular thing will or will not happen:

  • She was sick yesterday, so the odds are she won’t be in today.

• 2 the odds of something happening are how probable it is that it will happen:

  • the odds are against sth At the moment it seems the odds are against a deal.

  • the odds are on sth/in sth's favour They are so evenly matched, the odds are on a draw.

  • the odds are good/strong The odds are good that the country's transformation will proceed smoothly.

  • good/better odds People retiring today have better odds than ever of living a long healthy life.

  • the odds are slim/long Given the poor economic climate, the odds of success are slim.

• 3 how probable something is, expressed as a pair of numbers or a percentage, for example when betting :

  • good/bad odds We think 6 to 2 are good odds.

  • the odds are ... against/in favour of sth The odds are 100-1 against him getting the job.

  • the odds of sth happening For taxpayers with incomes above $100,000 the odds of being audited in 2006 were 1 in 59.

• 4 to disagree with someone:

  • She and her boss are at odds over the issue of training.

  • On this issue, Britain is at odds with the rest of the EU.

  • These findings are at odds with our research.

  • Management's and shareholders' interests seem to be at odds.

• 5 used to say that someone has achieved something or succeeded despite this being very unlikely:

  • Against all odds, she won the case.

• 6 someone is unlikely/likely to succeed:

  • In a case like this, the odds are against the defendant.

• 7 more than something is really worth:

  • They paid way over the odds for their new offices.