AT ODDS • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of At odds

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/æt ɑdz/ Listen

noun

Odds n.

Difference in favor of one and against another; excess of one of two things or numbers over the other; inequality; advantage; superiority; hence, excess of chances; probability. The odds are often expressed by a ratio; as, the odds are three to one that he will win, i. e. he will win three times out of four "Preeminent by so much odds." "The fearful odds of that unequal fray." "The odds Is that we scarce are men and you are gods." "There appeared, at least, four to one odds against them." "All the odds between them has been the different scope... given to their understandings to range in." "Judging is balancing an account and determining on which side the odds lie."

Quarrel; dispute; debate; strife; chiefly in the phrase at odds. "Set them into confounding odds." "I can not speak Any beginning to this peevish odds."

At odds, in dispute; at variance. "These squires at odds did fall." "He flashes into one gross crime or other, that sets us all at odds."

It is odds, it is probable; same as odds are, but no longer used. (Obs.)

odds are it is probable; as, odds are he will win the gold medal.

Odds and ends, that which is left; remnants; fragments; refuse; scraps; miscellaneous articles. "My brain is filled... with all kinds of odds and ends."

slim odds low odds; poor chances; as, there are slim odds he will win any medal.

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Etymology of 'At odds'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"At odds" Quotes from Famous Books

... change the relation of a man to the plainer human duties; and that, whether personally agreeable or no, I must needs bring myself into some sort of connection with the civilization about me. I might be a homesick fellow, but the baby was hungry. I might be at odds with the whole scheme of things, but the child must have a shelter. I might be a spiritual outcast, but what was to become of Boy? The heart of the father arose in me; and, gathering the little fellow to my breast, I set forth quickly ...

— The Gates Between • Elizabeth Stuart Phelps

... able to enter into the feelings of these two outcasts, to understand the fearful yet fascinating nature of the impulse that had led them to elude the vigilance and probity of a world with which I myself was at odds. I pictured them in a remote land, shunned by mankind. Was there something within me that might eventually draw me to do likewise? The desire in me to which my father had referred, which would brook no opposition, which twisted and squirmed until it found its way to its object? I recalled ...

— The Crossing • Winston Churchill

... and exciting life there had never been place or time for patience! When the siege actually commenced, the poor Captain nearly went wild with the inaction. He wanted to attack, to move, to do something. Pepperrill's calm judgment and slow tactics drove him distracted, and they were forever at odds in spite of a secret respect for each other. In speaking of the contrast between them, Parkman, after describing Pepperrill's careful management of the military end, says: "Warren was no less earnest than he for the success of the enterprise.... But in habits and ...

— Greenwich Village • Anna Alice Chapin

... allies whose cultural and spiritual origins we share, we pledge the loyalty of faithful friends. United, there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided, there is little we can do—for we dare not meet a powerful challenge at odds and split asunder. ...

— United States Presidents' Inaugural Speeches - From Washington to George W. Bush • Various

... against them, set out without being ordered to oppose their progress. They fell upon the advancing troop while the men were off their guard and in disarray, and so cut down great numbers of them. Vindex seeing this was afflicted with so great grief that he slew himself. For he felt, besides, at odds with Heaven itself, in that he had not been able to attain his goal in an undertaking of so great magnitude, involving the overthrow of Nero and ...

— Dio's Rome, Volume V., Books 61-76 (A.D. 54-211) • Cassius Dio

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