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
John Edgar Wideman2
: an intellectual or spiritual wandering or quest
an odyssey of self-discovery
a spiritual odyssey from disbelief to faith
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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
Through a surreal odyssey that spans a century, the hero searches for his identity and navigates the highs and lows of fame and notoriety.
—Wilson Chapman, IndieWire, 21 Apr. 2026
The episodic subplots hopscotch between pop culture references, urban odysseys and, of course, animal puns.
—Alison Herman, Variety, 20 Apr. 2026
The journey to Cape Town is an odyssey, and dehydration is a sure-fire way to compound the negative effects of jet lag.
—Abbey Hudetz, Travel + Leisure, 16 Apr. 2026
The Vatican predicted some 600,000 people would turn out for the liturgy, the biggest crowd Leo is expected to draw on his 11-day odyssey, the first to Africa by history's first American pope.
—ABC News, 16 Apr. 2026
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Wilson Chapman, IndieWire, 21 Apr. 2026
The episodic subplots hopscotch between pop culture references, urban odysseys and, of course, animal puns.
—Alison Herman, Variety, 20 Apr. 2026
The journey to Cape Town is an odyssey, and dehydration is a sure-fire way to compound the negative effects of jet lag.
—Abbey Hudetz, Travel + Leisure, 16 Apr. 2026
The Vatican predicted some 600,000 people would turn out for the liturgy, the biggest crowd Leo is expected to draw on his 11-day odyssey, the first to Africa by history's first American pope.
—ABC News, 16 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for odyssey
Cite this Entry
“Odyssey.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/odyssey. Accessed 24 Apr. 2026.
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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
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