at odds

English

WOTD – 6 September 2023

Etymology

From at + odds (“(obsolete) dissimilarity; inequality”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ət‿ˈɒdz/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ət‿ˈɑdz/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒdz

Prepositional phrase

at odds

1. (idiomatic) In disagreement; conflicting.

   Synonyms: at loggerheads, at sixes and sevens, at variance

   The witness’s statement seems to be at odds with the evidence—not a good sign for the prosecutor.

   • c. 1603–1606 (date written), [William Shakespeare], […] His True Chronicle Historie of the Life and Death of King Lear and His Three Daughters. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Nathaniel Butter, […], published 1608, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:

     By day and night he vvrongs me, / Euery houre he flaſhes into one groſſe crime or other / That ſets vs all at ods, ile not indure it, […]

   • 1722 (indicated as 1721), [Daniel Defoe], The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders, &c. […], London: […] W[illiam Rufus] Chetwood, […]; and T. Edling, […], published 1722, →OCLC, page 186:

     [I] began to be at odds vvith myſelf vvhether to be glad or ſorry; […]

   • 1842 December – 1844 July, Charles Dickens, “The Reader is Brought into Communication with Some Professional Persons, and Sheds a Tear over the Filial Piety of Good Mr. Jonas”, in The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1844, →OCLC, page 237:

     In the passage they encountered Mr. Mould the undertaker: a little elderly gentleman, bald, and in a suit of black; with a note-book in his hand, a massive gold watch-chain dangling from his fob, and a face in which a queer attempt at melancholy was at odds with a smirk of satisfaction; […]

   • 1940, Zane Grey, chapter 1, in 30,000 on the Hoof, Roslyn, N.Y.: Walter J. Black, →OCLC, page 5:

     At Pleasant Valley sheepmen and cattlemen were at odds over the grazing. Sooner or later they would clash.

   • 2017, BioWare, Mass Effect: Andromeda, Redwood City, Calif.: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Kett: Primus Codex entry:

     Evidence now proves that the Primus and the Archon are at odds. Investigations show that the Primus disapproves of the Archon's single-minded interest in Remnant technology, believing it to be a distraction from the kett's attempts to conquer Heleus.

Translations

in disagreement — see also conflicting

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 不和 (zh) (bùhé), 不相稱／不相称 (bù xiāngchèn), 不一致 (bù yīzhì), 大相逕庭／大相迳庭 (zh) (dàxiāngjìngtíng)

• Finnish: ristiriidassa
• French: en conflit
• Hungarian: ellentmond (hu), eltér (hu), hadilábon áll
• Italian: in conflitto (it), in contrasto (it), in disaccordo (it)
• Macedonian: во несогласу́вање (vo nesoglasúvanje)
• Polish: na bakier (pl), w konflikcie, w niezgodzie, w sprzeczności
• Russian: не в лада́х (ne v ladáx, literally “not in harmony”)
• Spanish: en conflicto, en desacuerdo
• Swedish: i strid
• Welsh: anghytûn (cy)

See also

• at cross-purposes
• on the outs