Meanings
odds1
- pluralplural onlyThe ratio of the probability of an event happening to that of it not happening.
I'd say the odds are strongly in favor of the sun rising tomorrow morning.
2 more examples
A thouſand Perſean horſemen are at hand, Sent from the King to ouercome vs all. […] A thouſand horſmen? We fiue hundred foote? An ods too great, for vs to ſtand againſt: […]
c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene iiTemperatures at that time stayed very low, and the search manager at the scene believed that the odds of finding Ryan alive in those conditions were poor.
2026 August 18, Nicholas Muhoro, “Ryan Shtuka, 20, Vanished After Leaving a House Party at a Ski Resort in 2018. His Walk Home Was Only 300 Metres”, in Skip Boring, archived from the original on 18 Aug 2026Synonyms: chance
- pluralplural onlyboard gamesAn advantage given to a weaker opponent in order to equalize the game when playing casually, usually by removing one of the stronger player's pieces or by giving the weaker player more time.
She beat me with knight odds but lost with rook odds.
5 more examples
The grandmaster gave his opponents significant time odds, of one minute versus ten minutes.
The resulting match of fourteen games was won by Mr. Maurian, who had scored all the Knight-odds parties and the majority of the even-term ones!
1913, The British Chess Magazine, volume 33, Trubner & Company, page 51Nowadays, giving material odds in this way is rather rare, but the advent of the chess clock has made it possible for strong players to give time odds — taking one or two minutes for all their moves, for example, and allowing their opponents five minutes or more.
1989, Raymond Keene, The Simon & Schuster Pocket Book of Chess, Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers, →ISBN, page 183Harry Golombek, who had returned from Argentina with the British chess team but spent two years in the infantry before joining B.P., occasionally played chess with Turing, giving Queen odds in order to make the game more equal.
1998, George W. Atkinson, Chess and Machine Intuition, Intellect, →ISBN, page 35And finally, if those are tied, they'll play a final sudden-death game, using a format known as armageddon. In armageddon, black gets "time odds": White gets five minutes while black gets just four, but a draw counts as a win for black.
2016 November 27, Oliver Roeder, “The World Chess Championship Comes Down To The Final Game”, in FiveThirtyEight, archived from the original on 26 May 2022
- pluralplural of odd
ODDs2
- pluralplural of ODD
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe ratio of the probability of an event happening to that of it not happening.
More synonyms by meaning
nounthe ratio by which one better's wager is greater than that of another
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From odd (“uneven, strange”).
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans kansverhouding
- kansverhoudingthe ratio of the probabilities of an event happening to that of it not happening
Bulgarian шанс
- шанс (šans)the ratio of the probabilities of an event happening to that of it not happening
Chinese Mandarin 概率
- 概率 (gàilǜ)the ratio of the probabilities of an event happening to that of it not happening
Czech šance, kurs
- šancethe ratio of the probabilities of an event happening to that of it not happening
- kursthe ratio of winnings to stake in betting situations
Dutch de kansen
- de kansenthe ratio of the probabilities of an event happening to that of it not happening
Finnish vetosuhde, kerroin
- vetosuhdethe ratio of the probabilities of an event happening to that of it not happening
- kerrointhe ratio of winnings to stake in betting situations
French chances
- chancesthe ratio of the probabilities of an event happening to that of it not happening
German Wahrscheinlichkeit, Gewinnquote
- Wahrscheinlichkeitthe ratio of the probabilities of an event happening to that of it not happening
- Gewinnquotethe ratio of winnings to stake in betting situations
Greek πιθανότητα, απόδοση
- πιθανότητα (pithanótita)the ratio of the probabilities of an event happening to that of it not happening
- απόδοση (apódosi)the ratio of winnings to stake in betting situations
Hungarian szorzó
- szorzóthe ratio of winnings to stake in betting situations
Indonesian kemungkinan
- kemungkinanthe ratio of the probabilities of an event happening to that of it not happening
Irish corrlach, seans
- corrlachthe ratio of the probabilities of an event happening to that of it not happening
- seansthe ratio of the probabilities of an event happening to that of it not happening
- corrlachthe ratio of winnings to stake in betting situations
Italian possibilità, probabilità
- possibilitàthe ratio of the probabilities of an event happening to that of it not happening
- probabilitàthe ratio of winnings to stake in betting situations
Japanese オッズ, 勝算
- オッズ (ozzu)the ratio of the probabilities of an event happening to that of it not happening
- 勝算 (shōsan)the ratio of winnings to stake in betting situations
- 勝ち目 (kachime)the ratio of winnings to stake in betting situations
Norwegian Bokmål odds, odds
- oddsthe ratio of the probabilities of an event happening to that of it not happening
- oddsthe ratio of winnings to stake in betting situations
Portuguese chances
- chancesthe ratio of the probabilities of an event happening to that of it not happening
Russian вероя́тность, ша́нс m or ша́нсы
- вероя́тность (verojátnostʹ)the ratio of the probabilities of an event happening to that of it not happening
- ша́нс m or ша́нсы (šáns)the ratio of the probabilities of an event happening to that of it not happening
Spanish probabilidad
- probabilidadthe ratio of the probabilities of an event happening to that of it not happening
Swedish odds
- oddsthe ratio of the probabilities of an event happening to that of it not happening
Tagalog kahigtan
- kahigtanthe ratio of the probabilities of an event happening to that of it not happening
Vietnamese khả năng
- khả năngthe ratio of the probabilities of an event happening to that of it not happening
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with odds
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
odds. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/odds
“odds.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/odds. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “odds,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/odds.
Source: odds on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.