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.
Before joining the Kings, Smith was the Ottawa Senators’ head coach for four and a half seasons from 2019 through 2023.
From Los Angeles Times
Now faced with US tariffs, and under Carney's more "pragmatic" approach to foreign policy, Ottawa is repairing ties with Delhi.
From BBC
“Well, it’s clearly fake, because it’s not my voice, not my lips moving,” he said Thursday in Ottawa.
From Los Angeles Times
Canadian officials met OpenAI senior staff earlier this week in Ottawa, after the company revealed it had shut down a ChatGPT account used by the suspect in June 2025 for violating usage terms.
From BBC
"Yes, that is always at the forefront of our minds," Anand told reporters in Ottawa.
From Barron's
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.
