Word.ws English Dictionary

beats the odds

beats the odds is the third-person singular simple present indicative of beat the odds.

Meaning of beat the odds

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

Questions about beats the odds

What is beats the odds the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Beats the odds is the third-person singular simple present indicative of beat the odds.

Words near beats the odds in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: beats the odds (page history and authors); 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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