Ottawa
Americannoun
plural
Ottawas,plural
Ottawa-
a city in and the capital of Canada, in southeastern Ontario.
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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.
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a city in northeastern Illinois, southwest of Chicago.
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a town in eastern Kansas.
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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.
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Also called Odawa. the Ojibwe language as used by the Ottawa.
noun
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the capital of Canada, in E Ontario on the Ottawa River: name changed from Bytown to Ottawa in 1854. Pop: 774 072 (2001)
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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)
Etymology
Origin of Ottawa
First recorded in 1660–70; from French Outaouan, or directly from Ojibwe Ota·wa· “traders”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Beijing and Ottawa both appear ready to stabilize ties after years of tensions that date to Canada’s 2018 arrest, on a U.S. extradition request, of a senior Huawei Technologies executive.
While Ottawa has stressed that China is Canada's second-largest market, it lags far behind, buying less than four percent of Canadian exports in 2024.
From Barron's
Ottawa views China as "an increasingly disruptive global power" that "increasingly disregards" international rules and norms, though it recognises China's size and influence make some cooperation necessary.
From BBC
The prime minister has moved to reset ties with China after a tumultuous period between Ottawa and Beijing following Canada’s role last decade in the U.S. detention of a former Huawei Technologies senior executive.
A representative from China’s embassy in Ottawa didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.