heads or tails

American  

noun

1. a gambling game in which a coin is tossed, the winner being the player who guesses which side of the coin will face up when it lands or is caught.

2. the tossing of a coin in this manner to determine a question or choice.

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heads or tails Idioms  

1. An expression used when tossing a coin to decide between two alternatives, as in Let's just flip a coin to decide who pays—do you want heads or tails? Each person involved chooses a different side of the coin, either “heads” or “tails,” and whichever side lands facing up is considered the winner. This usage, dating from the late 1600s, is sometimes turned into Heads I win, tails you lose, meaning “I win no matter what,” which probably originated in an attempt to deceive someone. [Mid-1800s]

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Etymology

Origin of heads or tails

First recorded in 1675–85

Example Sentences

The iPhone Clean Up tool did OK with the grass, but couldn’t make heads or tails of the tents in the background.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 30, 2025

Whether that falls heads or tails, though, generative AI isn't going to be what kills the arts and humanities.

From Salon • Aug. 29, 2023

Measuring the wave function, however, causes it to collapse, mathematically speaking, such that the system in our example shows up as either heads or tails.

From Scientific American • May 22, 2023

There are only two choices: heads or tails.

From Washington Times • Feb. 10, 2023

The surprising number of consecutive runs of heads or tails of various lengths give rise to further counter-intuitive notions.

From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos

Related Words

• advantage
• break
• future
• hit
• lot
• odds
• outcome
• risk