Dictionary

odds en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ɒdz/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ɑdz/ (General-American)
• (US) audio

Etymology

From odd (“uneven, strange”).

Meanings

1. (plural, plural-only) The ratio of the probability of an event happening to that of it not happening.
   • 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 ii:
   • I'd say the odds are strongly in favor of the sun rising tomorrow morning.
   • Temperatures 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 2026:
2. (form-of, plural) plural of odd
   form of odd
3. (plural, plural-only) The ratio of winnings to stake in betting situations.
   • I looked at the odds given by all bookmakers.
4. (plural, plural-only) An 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.
   • The grandmaster gave his opponents significant time odds, of one minute versus ten minutes.
   • And 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:
   • Here, Nakamura took the white pieces and the time odds with the mandatory win requirement, and managed to break Nepomniachtchi's resistance to clinch the title. 2022 October 31, Luci Kelemen, “Nakamura wins 2022 Fischer Random Chess Championship, Carlsen slides to top-four finish”, in Dot Esports, archived from the original on 17 Dec 2022:
   • The most important handicap historically is knight odds, because it produces play more similar to a normal game than handicaps like f7 and multiple moves, while still being a suitable handicap for rather strong players. 2021, Larry Kaufman, Chess Board Options, New in Chess, →ISBN:
   • Fischer described all female professionals' play at his time to be that of "beginners", and went on to boast about hypothetically beating any female chess player with knight odds (when challenged to the same, though, he didn't respond). 2018 September 23, Binit Priyaranjan, “Queens on the Board, Pawns in the Sport – the Underrepresentation of Women in Chess”, in The Wire, archived from the original on 06 May 2021:
   • Harry 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 35:
   • 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 51:
   • Nowadays, 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 183:

Deriveds

odds and bods · oddsmaker · oddsboard · what are the odds · beat the odds · odds on · short odds · against all odds · lay odds · implied odds · play the odds · even odds · odds and sods · odds bud · by all odds · may the odds be ever in your favor · take odds · oddswise · at odds · odds-on · pot odds · long odds · odds and ends · odds it · shout the odds · at all odds · fixed odds · make no odds · oddsman · odds match · over the odds · oddsmaking · odds against · odds are · reverse implied odds

Descendants

ots · odds

Relateds

even money · evens

Synonyms

chance

Translations (37)

nn odds (the ratio of the probabilities of an event happening to that of it not happening) · ga seans (the ratio of the probabilities of an event happening to that of it not happening) · mk вероја́тност (the ratio of the probabilities of an event happening to that of it not happening) · sv odds (the ratio of the probabilities of an event happening to that of it not happening) · nn odds (the ratio of winnings to stake in betting situations) · pt chances (the ratio of the probabilities of an event happening to that of it not happening) · mk и́згледи (the ratio of the probabilities of an event happening to that of it not happening) · bg шанс (the ratio of the probabilities of an event happening to that of it not happening) · el απόδοση (the ratio of winnings to stake in betting situations) · it probabilità (the ratio of winnings to stake in betting situations) · fi kerroin (the ratio of winnings to stake in betting situations) · fr chances (the ratio of the probabilities of an event happening to that of it not happening) · cs kurs (the ratio of winnings to stake in betting situations) · de Gewinnquote (the ratio of winnings to stake in betting situations) · cmn 概率 (the ratio of the probabilities of an event happening to that of it not happening) · nl de kansen (the ratio of the probabilities of an event happening to that of it not happening) · nb odds (the ratio of winnings to stake in betting situations) · mk ша́нси (the ratio of the probabilities of an event happening to that of it not happening) · af kansverhouding (the ratio of the probabilities of an event happening to that of it not happening) · ga corrlach (the ratio of the probabilities of an event happening to that of it not happening) · hu szorzó (the ratio of winnings to stake in betting situations) · it possibilità (the ratio of the probabilities of an event happening to that of it not happening) · fi vetosuhde (the ratio of the probabilities of an event happening to that of it not happening) · el πιθανότητα (the ratio of the probabilities of an event happening to that of it not happening) · vi khả năng (the ratio of the probabilities of an event happening to that of it not happening) · cs šance (the ratio of the probabilities of an event happening to that of it not happening) · nb odds (the ratio of the probabilities of an event happening to that of it not happening) · ja オッズ (the ratio of the probabilities of an event happening to that of it not happening) · es probabilidad (the ratio of the probabilities of an event happening to that of it not happening) · de Wahrscheinlichkeit (the ratio of the probabilities of an event happening to that of it not happening) · ga corrlach (the ratio of winnings to stake in betting situations) · ja 勝算 (the ratio of winnings to stake in betting situations) · ru ша́нс m or ша́нсы (the ratio of the probabilities of an event happening to that of it not happening) · ru вероя́тность (the ratio of the probabilities of an event happening to that of it not happening) · tl kahigtan (the ratio of the probabilities of an event happening to that of it not happening) · ja 勝ち目 (the ratio of winnings to stake in betting situations) · id kemungkinan (the ratio of the probabilities of an event happening to that of it not happening)