Odds Synonyms, Odds Antonyms

odd c.1300, "constituting a unit in excess of an even number," from O.N. oddi "third or additional number," as in odda-maðr "third man, odd man (who gives the casting vote)," odda-tala "odd number." O.N. oddi means lit. "point, angle;" related via notion of "triangle" to oddr "point of a weapon," from P.Gmc. *uzdaz "pointed upward" (cf. O.E. ord "point of a weapon, spear, source, beginning," O.Fris. ord "point, place," Du. oord "place, region," O.H.G. ort "point," Ger. Ort "place"), from PIE *uzdho- (cf. Lith. us-nis "thistle"). None of the other languages, however, shows the O.N. development ...from "point" to "third number." Used from late 14c. to indicate a surplus over any given sum. Sense of "strange, peculiar" first attested 1580s from notion of "odd one out, unpaired one of three" (attested earlier, c.1400, as "singular" in a positive sense of "renowned, rare, choice"). Odd job (c.1770) is so called from notion of "not regular." Odd lot "incomplete or random set" is from 1897. The international order of Odd Fellows began as local social clubs in England, late 18c., with Masonic-type trappings; formally organized 1813 in Manchester.

Example Sentences for odds

While the odds may not be in favor of these actors in the arena, they certainly were in the casting room.

The odds are that the whole question is not worth the poorest thought which the scholar has lost in listening to the controversy.

The big-sky vistas were at odds with the image of a deep, dark swamp.

But even if you're driving straight from home to your picnic site, odds are it won't make it.