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Synonyms

fifty-fifty

American  
[fif-tee-fif-tee] / ˈfɪf tiˈfɪf ti /
Or 50-50

adjective

  1. equally good and bad, likely and unlikely, favorable and unfavorable, etc..

    a fifty-fifty chance of winning.

adverb

  1. in an evenly or equally divided way.

    The board voted fifty-fifty on the merger.

idioms

  1. go fifty-fifty (on), to share equally in the cost, responsibility, or profits (of ).

    We went fifty-fifty on the dinner check.
fifty-fifty British  

adjective

  1. informal shared or sharing equally; in equal parts

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
fifty-fifty More Idioms  

  1. see under under go halves.

Etymology

Origin of fifty-fifty

An Americanism dating back to 1910–15

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

He practiced what Mr. Leeke calls “the fifty-fifty defense”: When he was unsure of a call, he had a 50% chance of guessing correctly.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 26, 2026

Squid born in early July had a fifty-fifty chance of using either tactic.

From Science Daily • Apr. 23, 2024

For Australia's Reserve Bank, bets are fifty-fifty for a half-point or quarter-point hike on Tuesday.

From Reuters • Sep. 30, 2022

The secretary general, he said, had improved the gender balance in leadership roles: "We now have basically fifty-fifty parity of male and females at senior levels and of the secretary general's representatives in the field."

From BBC • Jul. 14, 2022

“When everything went black, I gave us a fifty-fifty shot of being dead,” Regan said, and then she sniffed and turned to me.

From "Glitch" by Laura Martin

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.