Ottawa

American  

[ot-uh-wuh] / ˈɒt ə wə /

noun

plural

Ottawas,

plural

Ottawa

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

Analysts fear that tension between Ottawa and Washington on trade are putting the two countries on a collision course.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 21, 2026

"I'll take that as a yes," Carney said, also extending an invitation to visit Ottawa, the Canadian capital.

From Barron's • Apr. 9, 2026

Air Canada was privatised in 1988, but the government passed a law requiring it to maintain its bilingual obligations, said François Larocque, research chair in language rights at the University of Ottawa.

From BBC • Mar. 31, 2026

By 2015, the girls needed a better ballet school than was available in Ottawa.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 30, 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