Ottawa

American  

[ot-uh-wuh] / ˈɒt ə wə /

noun

• Ottawas,
  plural
• Ottawa
  plural

1. a city in and the capital of Canada, in southeastern Ontario.

2. a river in southeastern Canada, flowing southeast along the boundary between Ontario and Quebec into the St. Lawrence River at Montreal. 685 miles (1,105 kilometers) long.

3. a city in northeastern Illinois, southwest of Chicago.

4. a town in eastern Kansas.

5. Also called Odawa. a member of a tribe of Algonquian people of Canada, forced into the Lake Superior and Lake Michigan regions by the Iroquois confederacy.

6. Also called Odawa. the Ojibwe language as used by the Ottawa.

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Ottawa British  

/ ˈɒtəwə /

noun

1. the capital of Canada, in E Ontario on the Ottawa River: name changed from Bytown to Ottawa in 1854. Pop: 774 072 (2001)

2. a river in central Canada, rising in W Quebec and flowing west, then southeast to join the St Lawrence River as its chief tributary at Montreal; forms the border between Quebec and Ontario for most of its length. Length: 1120 km (696 miles)

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Ottawa Cultural  

1. Capital of Canada, located in southeastern Ontario across the Ottawa River from Quebec.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• Ottawa
  plural
• Ottawas
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of Ottawa

First recorded in 1660–70; from French Outaouan, or directly from Ojibwe Ota·wa· “traders”

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Ottawa Ottawas

He is represented in Ottawa by a governor general and in the provinces by lieutenant governors.

From Barron's ● Oct. 21, 2026

Ottawa at the end of August also announced counter-tariffs on select U.S. goods.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 6, 2026

University of Ottawa law professor Errol Mendes told AFP that, hours after the PQ win, "the challenge to Canadian unity was small."

From Barron's ● Oct. 6, 2026

Businesses and households in Canada have been hit with fresh uncertainty amid heightened trade tensions between Ottawa and Washington and as oil prices remain high.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026

I correctly answered that Tokyo was the capital of Japan, Addis Ababa the capital of Ethiopia, Ottawa the capital of Canada, and Bogota the capital of Colombia.

From "Out of My Mind" by Sharon M. Draper

The French, aided by the Potawotomis, Ottawas, Shawnees, and Delawares, ambushed the fifteen hundred British soldiers and Virginia militia who marched to the fort.

From Textbooks ● Dec. 30, 2014

By the Ottawas I am called "Little Crane."

From Time Magazine Archive

The194 Ottawas had no political connection with the Wyandots, who speak a language radically distinct.

From The Conspiracy of Pontiac and the Indian War after the Conquest of Canada by Francis Parkman

The remaining barges proceeded up the river, and crossed to the house of Mr. Meloche, where Pontiac and his Ottawas were encamped.

From The Conspiracy of Pontiac and the Indian War after the Conquest of Canada by Francis Parkman

The tribes concerned were the Wyandots, the Delawares, the Shawnees, the Ottawas, the Chippewas, the Pottawatomies, the Miamis, the Weeas, the Kickapoos, the Piankashas, the Kaskaskias and the Eel-river tribe.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 5 "Greek Law" to "Ground-Squirrel" by Various

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