odyssey
Wandering with trials
An odyssey is a long, eventful journey marked by adventures and hardships: Her odyssey from refugee camp to medical school took fifteen years.
The word implies not just travel but transformation through experience—obstacles overcome, lessons learned.
Any extended quest or wandering qualifies: his odyssey through the criminal justice system. (From the Greek epic about Odysseus's ten-year voyage home.)
Journey by sea
- expeditionOrganized exploratory journey
- questSeeking journey for something
- pilgrimageReligious journey to shrine
- trekArduous overland journey
wandering · passage · itinerary · destination · navigation · wayfarer · traveler · homeward
Something blocking the way
- challengeTest of ability
- hardshipSuffering from difficult circumstances
- ordealDifficult, painful experience
- tribulationState of great distress
test · adversity · struggle · peril · setback · endurance · perseverance · resilience
Increase in size
- enlightenmentProfound spiritual awakening
- awakeningReturn to consciousness
- self-discoveryLearning one's true character
- metamorphosisProfound biological restructuring
maturation · wisdom · revelation · evolution · change · development · renewal · identity
voyage
Journey by sea
- expeditionOrganized exploratory journey
- questSeeking journey for something
- pilgrimageReligious journey to shrine
trek · wandering · passage · itinerary · destination · navigation · wayfarer · traveler · homeward · return
obstacle
Something blocking the way
- challengeTest of ability
- hardshipSuffering from difficult circumstances
- ordealDifficult, painful experience
tribulation · test · adversity · struggle · peril · setback · endurance · perseverance · resilience · fortitude
growth
Increase in size
- enlightenmentProfound spiritual awakening
- awakeningReturn to consciousness
- self-discoveryLearning one's true character
metamorphosis · maturation · wisdom · revelation · evolution · change · development · renewal · identity · experience
- Mythological WordsAchilles heel, Adonis, aegis, ambrosia, Apollo
- Historical AllusionsTrojan horse, Achilles heel, Pyrrhic victory, crossing the Rubicon, Pandora's box
- adventureadventure, quest, quests, exploration, explorers
- explorationexploration, explore, expedition, expeditions, voyage
- storiesstory, tale, tales, myth, legend
- Adventuresadventure, expedition, exploration, exploring, journey
odysseyroutine
Regular sequence of actions
daily grind · monotony · ordinary day · drudgery · tedium
odysseystagnation
Absence of flow or progress
stasis · standing still · going nowhere · rut · dead end
- the OdysseyGreek epic of homecoming
- space odysseyEpic journey through cosmos
- Honda OdysseyJapanese-made family minivan