more often than not
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
Origin obscureCategory:English terms with unknown etymologies#MOREOFTENTHANNOT. Semantically equivalent to, and often understood as, an ellipsis of more often than not so. Possibly sometimes understood as more often than zero (see nought and naught), especially in reference to scales or gauges where mark zero represents the midpoint of measurement or frequency.
Pronunciation
Adverb
more often than not (comparative form only)Category:English lemmas#MOREOFTENTHANNOTCategory:English adverbs#MOREOFTENTHANNOTCategory:English comparative-only adverbs#MOREOFTENTHANNOTCategory:English multiword terms#MOREOFTENTHANNOTCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#MOREOFTENTHANNOTCategory:Pages with entries#MORE%20OFTEN%20THAN%20NOTCategory:Pages with 1 entry#MORE%20OFTEN%20THAN%20NOT
- (idiomaticCategory:English idioms#MOREOFTENTHANNOT) Usually; more than half the time; more likely to be the case than not to be the case.
- Synonym: most of the time
- Coordinate terms: as often as not; see also Thesaurus:frequency
- Near-synonyms: commonly, frequently; usually; see also Thesaurus:usually
- More often than not, tomato seeds will sprout even if they are a couple of years old.Category:English terms with usage examples#MOREOFTENTHANNOT
- 1962 September, Warren Smith, “The problems of coaching stock rostering and operation”, in Modern Railways, page 193:
- Regular passengers become familiar with their train and attempts to change its make-up or any other aspect of its working are more often than not frowned upon, even though the change is probably for the better.Category:English terms with quotations#MOREOFTENTHANNOT
- 2020 September 1, Tom Lamont, “The butcher's shop that lasted 300 years (give or take)”, in The Guardian:
- he would gather his courage and set out between the columned arches to ask one of the unaccompanied women to partner him. More often than not, their answer was no.Category:English terms with quotations#MOREOFTENTHANNOT