"as often as not" meaning in English

{
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "prepositional phrase"
      },
      "expansion": "as often as not",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "prep_phrase",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1841, Charles Dickens, chapter 7, in The Old Curiosity Shop:",
          "text": "\"[T]hese old people—there's no trusting them, Fred. . . . [Y]ou can't calculate upon 'em, and even then they deceive you just as often as not.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1896, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Persons of the Tale”, in Fables:",
          "text": "\"I am a man that tries to do his duty, and makes a mess of it as often as not.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1910, H. G. Wells, chapter 7, in The History of Mr. Polly:",
          "text": "[I]f he discovered a sale where there were books he would as often as not waste half the next day in going again to acquire a job lot of them.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1918, Edgar Wallace, chapter 7, in The Man Who Knew:",
          "text": "The hall porter said that, as often as not, the flat was untenanted.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012 October 24, Eamon Javers, “Spies and Co.”, in New York Times, retrieved 2013-10-29:",
          "text": "As often as not, the perpetrators have been other Americans — motivated not by patriotism for a foreign flag, but by simple profit.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "More or less half of the time; on many occasions but not always; frequently."
      ],
      "id": "en-as_often_as_not-en-prep_phrase-f5lA0PEv",
      "links": [
        [
          "More or less",
          "more or less"
        ],
        [
          "always",
          "always"
        ],
        [
          "frequently",
          "frequently"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) More or less half of the time; on many occasions but not always; frequently."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "more often than not"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-as often as not.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/0/00/En-au-as_often_as_not.ogg/En-au-as_often_as_not.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/En-au-as_often_as_not.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "as often as not"
}

{
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "prepositional phrase"
      },
      "expansion": "as often as not",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "prep_phrase",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "more often than not"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English prepositional phrases",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1841, Charles Dickens, chapter 7, in The Old Curiosity Shop:",
          "text": "\"[T]hese old people—there's no trusting them, Fred. . . . [Y]ou can't calculate upon 'em, and even then they deceive you just as often as not.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1896, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Persons of the Tale”, in Fables:",
          "text": "\"I am a man that tries to do his duty, and makes a mess of it as often as not.\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1910, H. G. Wells, chapter 7, in The History of Mr. Polly:",
          "text": "[I]f he discovered a sale where there were books he would as often as not waste half the next day in going again to acquire a job lot of them.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1918, Edgar Wallace, chapter 7, in The Man Who Knew:",
          "text": "The hall porter said that, as often as not, the flat was untenanted.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012 October 24, Eamon Javers, “Spies and Co.”, in New York Times, retrieved 2013-10-29:",
          "text": "As often as not, the perpetrators have been other Americans — motivated not by patriotism for a foreign flag, but by simple profit.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "More or less half of the time; on many occasions but not always; frequently."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "More or less",
          "more or less"
        ],
        [
          "always",
          "always"
        ],
        [
          "frequently",
          "frequently"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) More or less half of the time; on many occasions but not always; frequently."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-as often as not.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/0/00/En-au-as_often_as_not.ogg/En-au-as_often_as_not.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/En-au-as_often_as_not.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "as often as not"
}