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.

—John Edgar 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 10 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

Leo Davidson's time-traveling odyssey goes from 2029 all the way to the 51st century and then back again to his own era, where things have gone totally haywire. — Jeff Spry, Space.com, 27 July 2026

Her quest collides with an American GI on a harrowing odyssey to rescue his daughter from Hell. — Jill Goldsmith, Deadline, 24 July 2026

Three intrepid Variety writers – two who had seen the movie before and one first-timer – set out on an odyssey to find out. — Matt Minton, Variety, 22 July 2026

Bathroom trips while filming The Odyssey were an odyssey in itself for John Leguizamo. — Marina Watts, Entertainment Weekly, 22 July 2026

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

Rhymes for odyssey

• geodesy

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