ˈädəsē, -si noun
( -s )
Etymology: from the Odyssey, long epic poem recounting the adventures of Odysseus on his way home from the siege of Troy and attributed to Homer, Greek poet who probably lived ab 8th century B.C., from Latin Odyssea, from Greek Odysseia, from Odysseus, its hero + Greek -ia -y
1. : a long wandering : a series of adventurous journeys usually marked by many changes of fortune
the journey of these unwilling adventurers … is certainly one of the strangest odysseys in modern fiction — James Stern
his odyssey up and down the land as a journeyman printer — W.A.White
the odyssey of man through time — Think
2. : an extensive intellectual or spiritual wandering or quest
everyone's philosophic odyssey — Anthony Nemetz
the course of his political odyssey — Sidney Hook
the random and voracious reading odysseys of your childhood — J.H.Burns
the emotional odyssey of an intelligent and romantic young girl — Times Literary Supplement
less a historical novel than the story of a spiritual odyssey — Ann F. Wolfe