ten to one
1
3.7
- idiom
- Informal
:
probablemente
- I'll lay you ten to one he doesn't show up.
- outnumbered ten to one
Examples
-
Ten to one they won't believe me.
-
They used to outnumber us, I suppose, oh... ten to one, but we're catching up.
-
And ten to one, we'll be had again!
-
The guy is ten-to-one to win, all right?
-
- Ten to one they've got a man.
-
If lambs are missing, ten to one it's a fox or a wild cat!
-
My father took one look at him and said, "I'll bet you ten to one that you're the smartest kid in your class."
Fiction book (2000) -
Ten-to-one you don't get in the place.
-
"They say he drinks nothin' but tea, but ten to one he puts a little somethin' in it."
Fiction book (2000) -
If the weather doesn't improve, it's ten to one we'll be stuck indoors all weekend.
Synonyms
24
3.2
Very likely to happen or be true
8
3.8
Very likely to happen or be true
2
3.7
There is a good chance it will happen
1
9.9
You would bet on it because it is very likely to happen
Very likely to happen
You say this when you are very sure something will happen
Antonyms
How Likely
946
1.0
- Informal
1
3.7
∞
1.0
∞
1.0
487
1.9
- Informal
2
8.1
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase encodes an odds ratio (10:1), so the numeric constituents give a partial clue that one outcome is much more likely than another; however the conventionalized use as a fixed idiom meaning 'very likely' depends on knowledge of betting/odds conventions. A B1 learner who only knows the words 'ten', 'to', 'one' is unlikely to fully derive the idiomatic probability sense without exposure, so the expression is partially but not fully transparent.
Etymology
Ten to one comes from old betting talk. When people talked about bets they used 'ten to one' to say how likely something was, and that short saying became a quick way to mean 'very likely'.