Meanings
- idiomaticMore or less half of the time; on many occasions but not always; frequently.
The hall porter said that, as often as not, the flat was untenanted.
1918, Edgar Wallace, chapter 7, in The Man Who Knew4 more examples
"[T]hese old people—there's no trusting them, Fred. . . . [Y]ou can't calculate upon 'em, and even then they deceive you just as often as not."
1841, Charles Dickens, chapter 7, in The Old Curiosity Shop"I am a man that tries to do his duty, and makes a mess of it as often as not."
1896, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Persons of the Tale”, in Fables[I]f he discovered a sale where there were books he would as often as not waste half the next day in going again to acquire a job lot of them.
1910, H. G. Wells, chapter 7, in The History of Mr. PollyAs often as not, the perpetrators have been other Americans — motivated not by patriotism for a foreign flag, but by simple profit.
2012 October 24, Eamon Javers, “Spies and Co.”, in New York Times, retrieved 29 Oct 2013
Cite this entry
as often as not. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/as%20often%20as%20not
“as often as not.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/as%20often%20as%20not. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “as often as not,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/as%20often%20as%20not.
Source: as often as not on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.