odd
- differing in nature from what is ordinary, usual, or expected: an odd choice.
- singular or peculiar in a strange or eccentric way: an odd person; odd manners.
- fantastic; bizarre: Her taste in clothing was rather odd.
- leaving a remainder of 1 when divided by 2, as a number (opposed to even): Numbers like 3, 15, and 181 are odd numbers.
- more or less, especially a little more (used in combination with a round number): I owe three hundred-odd dollars.
- being a small amount in addition to what is counted or specified: I have five gross and a few odd dozens.
- being part of a pair, set, or series of which the rest is lacking: an odd glove.
- remaining after all others are paired, grouped, or divided into equal numbers or parts: Everybody gets two hamburgers and I get the odd one.
- left over after all others are used, consumed, etc.
- (of a pair) not matching: Do you know you're wearing an odd pair of socks?
- not forming part of any particular group, set, or class: to pick up odd bits of information.
- not regular, usual, or full-time; occasional; casual: odd jobs.
- out-of-the-way; secluded: a tour to the odd parts of the Far East.
- Mathematics. (of a function) having a sign that changes when the sign of each independent variable is changed at the same time.
- something that is odd.
- Golf.
- a stroke more than the opponent has played.
- British.a stroke taken from a player's total score for a hole in order to give him or her odds.
Origin of odd
Synonyms
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comAntonyms
Related Words
differentatypicalavant-gardebizarrecharactercrazycuriousdevianteccentricerraticexceptionalextraordinaryfantasticflakyfreakfreakishfunnyidiosyncraticirregularkinkyExamples from the Web for oddest
Contemporary Examples
The scene between getaway cab driver Esmeralda Villalobos (Angela Jones) and Butch is one of the oddest in Pulp Fiction.
The Secrets of ‘Pulp Fiction’: 20 Things You Didn’t Know About the Movie on Its 20th AnniversaryMarlow Stern
October 19, 2014
But this could wind up being the oddest confrontation of all.
A look at the ursine baby trend—and where it falls among the list of the year's oddest monikers.
Kate Winslet’s Bear Rocknroll & Other Crazy Celebrity Baby Names of 2013Pamela Redmond Satran/Nameberry
December 23, 2013
It was the oddest thing that ever happened to me in my life.
The Oscar winner talks about his oddest jobs, his cooking hobby, James Bond—and taming lions.
Historical Examples
The oddest part of these experiences is that the dirtier the inn the better the fare.
The Roof of FranceMatilda Betham-Edwards
It is really one of the oddest circumstances in the whole story.
The Miraculous PitcherNathaniel Hawthorne
To four persons the next day was one of the oddest in their lives.
The Incomplete AmoristE. Nesbit
The oddest of all perhaps is the fate of the two factors in practical politics.
Alarms and DiscursionsG. K. Chesterton
The oddest of all was finding Sim Jones billeted in the same prison.
A Yankee Flier Over BerlinAl Avery
odd
- unusual or peculiar in appearance, character, etc
- occasional, incidental, or randomodd jobs
- leftover or additionalodd bits of wool
- not divisible by two
- represented or indicated by a number that is not divisible by twographs are on odd pages Compare even 1 (def. 7)
- being part of a matched pair or set when the other or others are missingan odd sock; odd volumes
- (in combination) used to designate an indefinite quantity more than the quantity specified in round numbersfifty-odd pounds
- out-of-the-way or secludedodd corners
- maths (of a function) changing sign but not absolute value when the sign of the independent variable is changed, as in y=x³See even 1 (def. 13)
- odd man out a person or thing excluded from others forming a group, unit, etc
- golf
- one stroke more than the score of one's opponent
- an advantage or handicap of one stroke added to or taken away from a player's score
- a thing or person that is odd in sequence or number
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for oddest
odd
adj.
c.1300, "constituting a unit in excess of an even number," from Old Norse oddi "third or additional number," as in odda-maðr "third man, odd man (who gives the casting vote)," odda-tala "odd number." The literal meaning of Old Norse oddi is "point of land, angle" (related via notion of "triangle" to oddr "point of a weapon"); from Proto-Germanic *uzdaz "pointed upward" (cf. Old English ord "point of a weapon, spear, source, beginning," Old Frisian ord "point, place," Dutch oord "place, region," Old High German ort "point, angle," German Ort "place"), from PIE *uzdho- (cf. Lithuanian us-nis "thistle"). None of the other languages, however, shows the Old Norse development from "point" to "third number." Used from late 14c. to indicate a surplus over any given sum.
Sense of "strange, peculiar" first attested 1580s from notion of "odd one out, unpaired one of three" (attested earlier, c.1400, as "singular" in a positive sense of "renowned, rare, choice"). Odd job (c.1770) is so called from notion of "not regular." Odd lot "incomplete or random set" is from 1897. The international order of Odd Fellows began as local social clubs in England, late 18c., with Masonic-type trappings; formally organized 1813 in Manchester.
odd
- Divisible by 2 with a remainder of 1, such as 17 or -103.