Odysseus

American  

[oh-dis-ee-uhs, oh-dis-yoos] / oʊˈdɪs i əs, oʊˈdɪs jus /

noun

Classical Mythology.

1. king of Ithaca; son of Laertes; one of the heroes of the Iliad and protagonist of the Odyssey: shrewdest of the Greek leaders in the Trojan War.

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Odysseus British  

/ əˈdiːsɪəs /

noun

1. Roman name: Ulysses. Greek myth one of the foremost of the Greek heroes at the siege of Troy, noted for his courage and ingenuity. His return to his kingdom of Ithaca was fraught with adventures in which he lost all his companions and he was acknowledged by his wife Penelope only after killing her suitors

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Odysseus Cultural  

1. A Greek hero in the Trojan War (see also Trojan War). Odysseus helped bring about the fall of Troy by conceiving the ruse of the Trojan horse. After Troy was ruined, Odysseus wandered for ten years trying to return home, having many adventures along the way. (See Circe, Cyclops, Penelope, Scylla and Charybdis, and Sirens.)

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The story of Odysseus' journey home is told in the Odyssey of Homer. By extension, an “odyssey” is any long or difficult journey or transformation.

Example Sentences

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Odysseus

There the narrator meets both Homer and Odysseus, who now regrets his actions in the “Odyssey,” when he was fool enough to leave Calypso’s island and miss out on her offer of immortality.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026

The pair at last, like Odysseus or Virgil’s Aeneas, heed divine guidance: They are offered a way back to family and guided onward toward the “home” of eternity.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026

The film uses the likeness of many people, including the film’s creator Koosha, who stars as Odysseus.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 29, 2026

Based on Homer's epic, Nolan's film retraces the hero Odysseus in a perilous journey to his home on the island of Ithaca after the Trojan War in the 12th century BCE.

From Barron's ● Aug. 18, 2026

They felt that Odysseus had deserved better at their hands and Zeus spoke for them all when he said they must put their heads together and contrive a way for him to return.

From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton