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.

---

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)

---

Ottawa Cultural  

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

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• Ottawa
  plural
• Ottawas
  plural

---

Etymology

Origin of Ottawa

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

---

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Ottawa Ottawas

"I congratulated him on his victory. We discussed the ways that we would work together," Carney told reporters in Ottawa.

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

Ottawa has also worked to shore up ocean protection funding and rules to protect marine life that could be affected by increased coastal tanker traffic, including the endangered Southern Resident killer whales.

From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026

Ottawa in late 2024 unveiled revised immigration targets.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026

Zizmo drives through the gloom, past the octagonal gazebos and the monument of the Civil War Hero, and into the woods where the Ottawa once held their summer camp.

From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides

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

Minutes of a Council held by Deputies of the Six Nations, with the Wyandots, Ottawas, Ojibwas, and Pottawattamies, at the Wyandot town, near Detroit, July 3, 1761.

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

The officers and men gathered around them; while, in the mean time, the remaining ten of the Ottawas strolled about the fort, observing every thing it contained.

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

In his company were his servant and several Hurons who had come to trade with the Ottawas.

From Stories of the Badger State by Reuben Gold Thwaites

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---