odd

Different from what you expect or consider normal.

• That is an odd noise.
• He gave me an odd look.
• Isn't it odd that both clocks stopped?

How to use it: it is odd that… (It is odd that nobody answered.)

Similar words: strange, unusual, peculiar

Opposites: normal, usual

Common phrases: odd smell, odd behaviour, seem odd, odd feeling

A whole number that cannot be divided into two equal whole numbers, such as three or five.

• Three is an odd number.
• Write your name on the odd pages.
• Are all these numbers odd?

Opposites: even

Common phrases: odd number, odd numbers, odd pages, odd integer

Happening or appearing sometimes, but not often.

• I enjoy the odd beer.
• We get the odd visitor in winter.
• She does the odd job for her neighbours.

How to use it: the odd + singular noun (I still make the odd spelling mistake.)

Similar words: occasional, infrequent

Opposites: frequent, regular

Common phrases: the odd drink, the odd mistake, the odd occasion

Without a matching partner, or different from the other things in a pair or set.

• I found an odd sock.
• He wore odd shoes by mistake.
• Keep the odd gloves until we find their partners.

Similar words: unmatched, mismatched

Opposites: matching, paired

Common phrases: odd sock, odd socks, odd glove, odd shoes

Used after a number to mean a little more than that number.

• There were twenty-odd guests.
• She has lived here for thirty-odd years.
• The repairs cost a hundred-odd pounds.

How to use it: number + odd + plural noun (We invited forty-odd people.)

Common phrases: twenty odd people, fifty odd students, thirty odd years

An extra item that does not belong to a complete set, usually mentioned in the plural.

• Keep the odds in this box.
• He sold complete sets and a few odds.
• These odds might help you finish your card collection.

Similar words: leftover, extra

Common phrases: an odd, a few odds, sell the odds

A whole number such as one, three, or five, which cannot be divided evenly by two.

• Put the odds in this column.
• The list contains three odds and two evens.
• She separated the odds from the evens.

Similar words: odd number

Opposites: even

Common phrases: an odd, odds and evens, count the odds