Ottawa

American  

[ot-uh-wuh] / ˈɒt ə wə /

noun

Ottawas 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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Etymology

Origin of Ottawa

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

Example Sentences

At a defense conference in Ottawa, Carney said Saab’s GlobalEye aircraft would help detect and deter threats across the Arctic.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 27, 2026

"The common link is the rock," says study co-author Oliver Warr, an assistant professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at University of Ottawa.

From Science Daily • May 20, 2026

Now, Ottawa is weighing whether to move forward at all.

From BBC • May 15, 2026

Ottawa has been stepping up ties with the EU and other key partners as part of Prime Minister Mark Carney's efforts to increase cooperation between "middle powers".

From Barron's • May 11, 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