odd
♦♦ odd /'ɒd/ (odder oddest)
1 [ADJ]
If you describe someone or something as odd, you think that they are strange or unusual.
He'd always been odd, but not to this extent...
What an odd coincidence that he should have known your family...
Something odd began to happen.
see also odd-looking
= peculiar
● oddly [ADV] ADV with v
...an oddly shaped hill...
His own boss was behaving rather oddly.
2 [ADJ] det ADJ
You use odd before a noun to indicate that you are not mentioning the type, size, or quality of something because it is not important.
...moving from place to place where she could find the odd bit of work...
I knew that Alan liked the odd drink.
= occasional
3 [ADV] num ADV
You use odd after a number to indicate that it is only approximate. (INFORMAL)
He has now appeared in sixty odd films...
`How long have you lived here?'--`Twenty odd years.'
4 [ADJ] usu ADJ n
Odd numbers, such as 3 and 17, are those which cannot be divided exactly by the number two.
The odd numbers are on the left as you walk up the street...
There's an odd number of candidates.
≠ even
5 [ADJ]
You say that two things are odd when they do not belong to the same set or pair.
I'm wearing odd socks today by the way.
≠ matching
6 [PHRASE] N inflects, usu v-link PHR
The odd man out, the odd woman out, or the odd one out in a particular situation is a person who is different from the other people in it.
Azerbaijan has been the odd man out, the one republic not to hold democratic elections...
Mark and Rick were the odd ones out in claiming to like this cherry beer.
7
see also odds, odds and ends
1 [ADJ]
If you describe someone or something as odd, you think that they are strange or unusual.
He'd always been odd, but not to this extent...
What an odd coincidence that he should have known your family...
Something odd began to happen.
see also odd-looking
= peculiar
● oddly [ADV] ADV with v
...an oddly shaped hill...
His own boss was behaving rather oddly.
2 [ADJ] det ADJ
You use odd before a noun to indicate that you are not mentioning the type, size, or quality of something because it is not important.
...moving from place to place where she could find the odd bit of work...
I knew that Alan liked the odd drink.
= occasional
3 [ADV] num ADV
You use odd after a number to indicate that it is only approximate. (INFORMAL)
He has now appeared in sixty odd films...
`How long have you lived here?'--`Twenty odd years.'
4 [ADJ] usu ADJ n
Odd numbers, such as 3 and 17, are those which cannot be divided exactly by the number two.
The odd numbers are on the left as you walk up the street...
There's an odd number of candidates.
≠ even
5 [ADJ]
You say that two things are odd when they do not belong to the same set or pair.
I'm wearing odd socks today by the way.
≠ matching
6 [PHRASE] N inflects, usu v-link PHR
The odd man out, the odd woman out, or the odd one out in a particular situation is a person who is different from the other people in it.
Azerbaijan has been the odd man out, the one republic not to hold democratic elections...
Mark and Rick were the odd ones out in claiming to like this cherry beer.
7
see also odds, odds and ends