Word.ws English Dictionary

beat the odds

beat the odds verb: to succeed despite being unlikely to do so.

Verb

beat the odds (third-person singular simple present beats the odds, present participle beating the odds, simple past beat the odds, past participle beaten the odds or (colloquial) beat the odds)

  1. (idiomatic, informal) To succeed despite being unlikely to do so.
    • The emotional appeal of the Trickster is that of the perpetual underdog who sometimes beats the odds. He surprises human beings and offers them hope in his illustration of freedom from destiny.1983, Wendy Griswold, “The Devil's Techniques: Cultural Legitimation and Social Change”, in American Sociological Review, volume 48, number 5, page 669b of 668–680

Forms of beat the odds

third-person singular presentbeats the odds
present participlebeating the odds
pastbeat the odds
past participlebeaten the odds
past participle (colloquial)beat the odds

Questions about beat the odds

What does beat the odds mean?
Beat the odds means to succeed despite being unlikely to do so.
What part of speech is beat the odds?
Beat the odds is a verb.
What is the past tense of beat the odds?
The past tense of beat the odds is beat the odds.

Words near beat the odds in the dictionary

  1. beat the drum for
  2. beat the dummy
  3. beat the dust
  4. beat the hoof
  5. beat the meat
  6. beat the odds
  7. beat the pants off
  8. beat the poop out of
  9. beat the rap
  10. beat the shit out of
  11. beat the stuffing out of

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: beat the odds (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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