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odds of

odds of

106 3.5
The chance that something will happen
  • noun
  • /ɑdz ʌv/
translation icon : probabilidad de
  • The odds of winning a lottery are usually very low.
  • higher odds of
  • increased odds of
  • lower odds of

In such cases, the odds of being right are low.

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Examples

  • And that increases the odds of him winning in the long game.

  • Because remember, your odds of winning were one out of three.

  • In such cases, the odds of being right are low.

  • The actual odds of it happening are so small.

  • What are the odds of this?

  • What are the odds of them all being in the same place at the same time?

  • If P is small, this means that the odds of seeing heads is small.

  • Because his odds of surviving are better than yours.

  • Scientists have calculated the odds of you being born.

  • The higher the English course completed, the greater the odds of successfully completing the content course.

    Academic text (2008)

Synonyms

chance
vsodds of
1.0

Possibility that something will happen, often an opportunity or risk

is limited to the measurable probability of a single event
probability
vsodds of
473 3.6

The chance that something will happen, often shown as a number or percent

is the everyday idea of how likely a specific event is
likelihood
vsodds of
274 3.6

The chance that something will happen

is focused on a particular event's probability rather than general possibility
chance of rain
vsodds of
5 2.2

How likely it is to rain at a time or place

is the broader likelihood concept applying to any event
odds
vsodds of
2 3.4

The chance that something will happen, often shown by numbers used for betting

is the general probability idea without a gambling or technical focus
likeliness
vsodds of
3.6

The chance that something will happen

is about the precise probability for a particular event

Antonyms

How unlikely something is to happen or be true

1 6.9

Not likely to happen or be true

How Likely

certainty
  • Literature
202 3.4
odds of
106 3.5
possibility
2.0
impossibility
37 5.3

Surface Forms

odds of singular
odds of plural

Morphology

odds + of

The meaning is directly compositional: 'odds' denotes chance or likelihood and the preposition 'of' links that likelihood to a specific event, so 'odds of [X]' clearly means the likelihood of X. This is a common, cross-linguistic noun + preposition pattern, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents will readily infer the meaning.

Etymology

Odds of comes from betting, where people compared how many chances were for or against an outcome, like two piles of chips showing which side had more chances. So odds of now means the 'chance' that something will happen.