Ithaca

American

[ith-uh-kuh] / ˈɪθ ə kə /

noun

Greek Itháki. one of the Ionian Islands, off the W coast of Greece: legendary home of Ulysses. 37 sq. mi. (96 sq. km).
a city in S New York at the S end of Cayuga Lake.

Ithaca British

/ ˈɪθəkə /

noun

Modern Greek name: Itháki. a Greek island in the Ionian Sea, the smallest of the Ionian Islands: regarded as the home of Homer's Odysseus. Area: 93 sq km (36 sq miles)

"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

Other Word Forms

Ithacan

adjective

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.

"Help me go home," viewers hear Odysseus plead, after having first found the King of Ithaca washed up on a far away sea shore.

From BBC • May 5, 2026

Yin is also organizing a symposium on the Ithaca campus scheduled for March 3-5, 2026.

From Science Daily • Dec. 24, 2025

Find insight on oil futures, Ithaca Energy and more in the latest Market Talks covering energy and utilities.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 20, 2025

Jeff Cohen is co-founder of RootsAction.org, a retired journalism professor at Ithaca College and author of “Cable News Confidential: My Misadventures in Corporate Media.”

From Salon • Sep. 20, 2025

But I was filled with joy and triumph, and the fires to me were the flames of Troy still burning as Odysseus pushed off for Ithaca.

From "Hole in My Life" by Jack Gantos

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