noun
ADJECTIVE
▪ considerable , great , impossible , incredible , insurmountable , overwhelming , terrible
▪
She struggled against terrible ~ to overcome her illness.
▪ good
▪ high , low
▪ long , short ( esp. BrE )
▪
Sometimes an outsider will win at long ~, but not often.
▪
The bookmakers are offering only short ~ on the favourite. ( BrE )
VERB + ODDS
▪ offer , quote
▪ lay
▪
I'll lay ~ we never see him again.
▪ reduce , shorten
▪ improve , increase
▪ beat , defy , overcome
▪
She defied the ~ to beat the clear favourite/favorite.
▪ calculate
ODDS + VERB
▪ fall , go down , lengthen ( esp. BrE )
▪ go up , increase , shorten ( esp. BrE )
▪ favour/favor sb
PREPOSITION
▪ against the ~
▪
The movie is a heart-warming tale of triumph against the ~.
▪ ~ against
▪
The ~ against making a profit in this business are huge.
▪ ~ of
▪
They were offering ~ of ten to one.
▪ ~ on
▪
The ~ on the outsider were 100–1.
PHRASES
▪ against all ~ , against all the ~
▪
Against all the ~, we managed to get through to the final.
▪ face impossible ~ , face insurmountable ~
▪ the ~ are stacked against sb , the ~ are stacked in favour/favor of sb
▪
He will try hard to win, although he knows the ~ are stacked against him.