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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Odds \Odds\ ([o^]dz), noun sing. & pl. [See {Odd}, adjective]
1. Difference in favor of one and against another; excess of one of two things or numbers over the other; inequality; advantage; superiority; hence, excess of chances; probability. The odds are often expressed by a ratio; as, the odds are three to one that he will win, i. e. he will win three times out of four ''Pre["e]minent by so much odds.'' --Milton. ''The fearful odds of that unequal fray.'' --Trench.
The odds Is that we scarce are men and you are gods. --Shak.
There appeared, at least, four to one odds against them. --Swift.
All the odds between them has been the different scope . . . given to their understandings to range in. --Locke.
Judging is balancing an account and determining on which side the odds lie. --Locke.
2. Quarrel; dispute; debate; strife; -- chiefly in the phrase at odds.
Set them into confounding odds. --Shak.
I can not speak Any beginning to this peevish odds. --Shak.
{At odds}, in dispute; at variance. ''These squires at odds did fall.'' --Spenser. ''He flashes into one gross crime or other, that sets us all at odds.'' --Shak.
{It is odds}, it is probable; same as {odds are}, but no longer used. [Obs.] --Jer. Taylor.
{odds are} it is probable; as, odds are he will win the gold medal.
{Odds and ends}, that which is left; remnants; fragments; refuse; scraps; miscellaneous articles. ''My brain is filled . . . with all kinds of odds and ends.'' --W. Irving.
{slim odds} low odds; poor chances; as, there are slim odds he will win any medal. [1913 Webster +PJC]
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
odds
noun
1: the probability of a specified outcome [syn: {likelihood}, {likeliness}] [ant: {unlikelihood}, {unlikelihood}]
2: the ratio by which one better's wager is greater than that of another; "he offered odds of two to one" [syn: {betting odds}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
154 Moby Thesaurus words for "odds": advantage, agreement to disagree, allowance, aptitude, asymmetry, at daggers drawn, at loggerheads, at odds, at variance, bulge, chance, chances, clashing, coign of vantage, conflicting, contrariety, contrast, cross-purposes, deadwood, debris, departure, deviation, difference, difference of opinion, differing, difficulty, disaccord, disaccordance, disagreeing, disagreement, disconformity, discongruity, discordance, discrepancy, discreteness, disequilibrium, disparity, disproportion, dissent, dissimilarity, dissonance, distinction, distinctness, divergence, divergency, diversity, dividedness, division, draw, drop, edge, equivalent odds, even break, even chance, expectation, fair expectation, fair shake, far cry, favorable prospect, fifty-fifty, flying start, fragments, good chance, half a chance, handicap, head start, heterogeneity, hundred-to-one shot, imbalance, in disagreement, in opposition, inaccordance, inadequacy, incompatibility, incongruity, inconsistency, inconsonance, inequality, inequity, inharmonious, inharmoniousness, inharmony, injustice, inside track, insufficiency, irreconcilability, irregularity, jump, lead, leavings, leftovers, liability, likelihood, likeliness, litter, long odds, long shot, misunderstanding, mixture, no chance, nonconformity, nonuniformity, oddments, odds and ends, opposition, otherness, out of line, outlook, overbalance, particles, polarization, presumption, presumptive evidence, price, probabilism, probability, prospect, reasonable ground, reasonable hope, rubbish, running start, scraps, separateness, short odds, shortcoming, shreds, small chance, something extra, something in reserve, square odds, standoff, start, superiority, tendency, toss, toss-up, touch and go, unbalance, unconformity, unevenness, unfair discrimination, unlikeness, unorthodoxy, upper hand, vantage, vantage ground, vantage point, variance, variation, variegation, variety, verisimilitude, well-grounded hope, whip hand
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Definitions retrieved from local copies of the freely distributed DICT client/server software and databases. Click here for database copyright information. - KM |