Odysseus

American  

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

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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Discover More

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

Intuitive Machines declared Odysseus dead a few weeks later.

From MarketWatch • Mar. 31, 2026

Intuitive made news when its Odysseus spacecraft landed on the moon in February 2024.

From Barron's • Mar. 19, 2026

Odysseus is the flawed hero, a consummate liar and a less-than-stellar leader who cannot safeguard the “homecomings of his companions.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 7, 2025

Intuitive Machines successfully landed a craft called Odysseus on the Moon in February last year, but it tipped over during the descent, meaning not all the scientific work could be carried out.

From BBC • Mar. 6, 2025

He told Odysseus he knew a herb which could save him from Circe’s deadly art.

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