odyssey

noun

od·​ys·​sey ˈä-də-sē 

plural odysseys

1

: a long wandering or voyage usually marked by many changes of fortune

his odyssey from rural South to urban North, from poverty to affluence, from Afro-American folk culture to a Eurocentric world of books

—J. E. Wideman

2

: an intellectual or spiritual wandering or quest

an odyssey of self-discovery

a spiritual odyssey from disbelief to faith

Did you know?

Odysseus, the hero of Homer's Odyssey, spends 20 years traveling home from the Trojan War. He has astonishing adventures and learns a great deal about himself and the world; he even descends to the underworld to talk to the dead. Thus, an odyssey is any long, complicated journey, often a quest for a goal, and may be a spiritual or psychological journey as well as an actual voyage.

Examples of odyssey in a Sentence

The story is about the emotional odyssey experienced by a teenage girl.

the spiritual odyssey of the deeply religious

Recent Examples on the Web

Below is a teaser trailer for Dune: Prophecy, which brings a tale from author Frank Herbert’s sci-fi odyssey to the small screen this fall. —James Hibberd, The Hollywood Reporter, 15 May 2024

The series tells the story of Donny (Richard Gadd, reenacting a version of his own life), a bartender and wannabe comedian who serves Martha (Jessica Gunning) a free cup of tea, unknowingly starting a yearslong odyssey that begins with thousands of harassing emails and gets worse from there. —Jay Stahl, USA TODAY, 9 May 2024

Word History

Etymology

the Odyssey, epic poem attributed to Homer recounting the long wanderings of Odysseus

First Known Use

1886, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

odyssey

noun

od·​ys·​sey ˈäd-ə-sē 

plural odysseys

: a long wandering or series of travels

Etymology

named for the Odyssey, a long poem from ancient Greece telling the story of the 10-year wanderings of Odysseus, a Greek hero and king