long odds

noun

: a poor chance of winning
The team has made some major improvements, but they still face long odds.

Examples of long odds in a Sentence

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As Powerball excitement sweeps the nation for hopeful gamblers, aspiring players in certain states shouldn't get their hopes up, and not because of the long odds to win. Natalie Neysa Alund, USA Today, 4 Sep. 2025 Elgersma, who played 12-man football in Canada, certainly faced long odds to stick around then — and now. Rob Reischel, Forbes.com, 19 Aug. 2025 But the debt policy that both the Republican and the Democratic Parties have engaged in over the first quarter of the twenty-first century amounts to a huge wager on long odds, especially if the country wants to remain a dominant power for the rest of this century and beyond. Kenneth S. Rogoff, Foreign Affairs, 19 Aug. 2025 The attorneys wrote the amount of matching funds the board is now wrongfully withholding has ballooned to nearly $5 million, a significant sum to lose out on as Adams faces long odds to a second term, running as an independent candidate in November’s election. Chris Sommerfeldt, New York Daily News, 18 Aug. 2025 See All Example Sentences for long odds

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“Long odds.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/long%20odds. Accessed 11 Sep. 2025.

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