against all the odds

against all the odds

Despite being very likely to fail. Against all the odds, he was able to survive being stranded in the wilderness for a week with no food.
See also: all, odds
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

against all the odds

COMMON If you do something or something happens against the odds, you do it or it happens even though it does not seem likely that it will. His lawyer worked for much less than her normal fee and, against all the odds, she won. If the worst happens and, against all the odds, your hard disk fails, you will have a big problem.
See also: all, odds
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.
See also:
  • against all odds
  • against the odds
  • odds
  • live off the land
  • at odds over (something)
  • at odds
  • by all odds
  • odds-on
  • be at odds
  • be at odds (with)
References in periodicals archive
But against all the odds, the egg hatched and the chick survived.
SOL CAMPBELL has pulled off a superb escape act at Macclesfield Town against all the odds.
"Against all the odds we grind out results, and we deserved that in the second half after we came out so positively.
Having captured, against all the odds, a fourth Wimbledon in July, the 31-year-old Serb suddenly finds himself as joint favorite with world No.
But he hopes that, come Monday, his youth will be the force that propels him to election victory against all the odds. Chamisa joined the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) as a student when it was founded in 1999.
Director Prof Dr Rooh-ul-Muqim and Hospital Director Dr Nekdad Khan held a seminar.All stakeholders nurses, women doctors, paramedics and women managerial staff also attended the seminar The directors thanked the working women in the hospital for their services and encouraged them for their hard work against all the odds.
She was being treated at the hospital's burn ward where she struggled against all the odds before she died of her burn injuries.
In a state like Pakistan where the cause of human rights is often suppressed as it is at odds with political and religious ideologies, Asma Jahangir was courageous enough to stand against all the odds and voice her opinions unfazed by any external and internal pressure.
Mum Seeta, 48, and dad Giriraj, 50, of Rajasthan, India, said: "She's fought against all the odds."
Because the branch and its workforce were basically sound and the product was excellent, against all the odds the management buy-out worked and the company continued in operation, selling across the world in spite of the depredations of DAF.
The select side took the honours 26-14 with - against all the odds - Sabin and his son Ollie both on the scoresheet before an 'Angels & Demons' party rounded off what the chairman described as "a fantastic event."
THE search is on for young people from across the Yorkshire region who have achieved something special or succeeded against all the odds.
"We'd tried very hard to win it for years and then we did it against all the odds from the quarter-finals in the craziest way.
Against all the odds,he has made a miraculous recovery and has just come home.
"There were speculations that it would not be passed but the prime minster passed it against all the odds. I congratulate him and his team for taking a judicious and respectable decision to fulfill the aspirations of the people of Telangana who have been demanding it for more than five decades.