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Glite Dictionary
more often than not

more often than not

52 2.6
Happens most of the time
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : la mayoría de las veces
  • Generally, more often than not, those are only found in home grounds.
  • more often than not

They might, but more often than not they don't.

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Examples

  • We want the truth, we say, but more often than not, truth hurts.

  • As parents, our number one goal more often than not is to protect our kids.

  • So more often than not, I have no idea.

  • And again, more often than not, you want the good answer to that question.

  • And more often than not, you see no change.

  • Simply allow them to happen more often than not.

    Confession (2020)

  • But, more often than not, I think that if you do, people will rise to the occasion.

    Our Idiot Brother (2011)

  • The party has retained power at the center more often than not since then.

    Academic text (1997)

  • In the United States, excessive secrecy has more often than not been the norm.

    Academic text (2011)

  • As parents, our number one goal is to protect our kids more often than not.

Synonyms

often
vsmore often than not
∞ 1.0

Happens many times

means it happens in most cases rather than on many occasions
usually
vsmore often than not
∞ 1.0

Most of the time

is an everyday idiom expressing the same majority occurrence
mostly
vsmore often than not
∞ 1.0

For the most part

is a more informal phrase stating the same overall tendency
generally
vsmore often than not
∞ 1.0

Usually or in most cases

is a conversational way to express that same general rule
commonly
vsmore often than not
186 1.0

In most cases

is an idiomatic way to state that common occurrence
on average
vsmore often than not
152 2.1

It is the usual amount when you look at all cases together

is a spoken phrase meaning most instances rather than a mean value
by and large
vsmore often than not
89 3.4

To say that something is true in most cases

is a more idiomatic expression for that same general situation
ordinarily
vsmore often than not
78 3.0

In most situations

is a casual expression conveying that same normal condition
as a rule
vsmore often than not
28 2.8

Usually in most cases

is a more informal phrasing of that typical rule
in the main
vsmore often than not
9 3.7

In most cases

is a colloquial phrase used to state that majority truth
on the average
vsmore often than not
3.4

The usual result appears when you look at many things together

is a colloquial way to convey majority occurrence not statistical mean

Antonyms

rarely
539 1.0

Happens only a few times

How Often

often
∞ 1.0
more often than not
  • Informal
52 2.6
sometimes
∞ 1.0
rarely
539 1.0
never
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

often positive

Morphology

more + often + than + not

The phrase literally compares frequency — 'more' + 'often' + 'than' + 'not' yields the proposition that something occurs more often than it does not, i.e. usually. This compositional comparative logic is cross‑linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents can infer the meaning without prior exposure.

Etymology

More often than not paints a simple image: something happens more often than not. Imagine a calendar where most days show the event, so the phrase means 'usually' or 'in most cases'.