pilgrimage
Americannoun
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pilgrimages
plural
-
a journey, especially a long one, made to some sacred place as an act of religious devotion.
a pilgrimage to Lourdes.
-
Islam.
-
any long journey, especially one undertaken as a quest or for a votive purpose, as to pay homage.
a pilgrimage to the grave of Shakespeare.
verb (used without object)
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pilgrimages,
present (3rd person singular)
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pilgrimaged,
past participle, past
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pilgrimaging
present participle
noun
-
a journey to a shrine or other sacred place
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a journey or long search made for exalted or sentimental reasons
verb
Synonym Usage
See trip 1.
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
pilgrimagesimple
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pilgrimagessimple
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have pilgrimagedperfect
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has pilgrimagedperfect
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am pilgrimagingprogressive
-
are pilgrimagingprogressive
-
is pilgrimagingprogressive
-
have been pilgrimagingperfect progressive
-
has been pilgrimagingperfect progressive
Past
-
pilgrimagedsimple
-
had pilgrimagedperfect
-
was pilgrimagingprogressive
-
were pilgrimagingprogressive
-
had been pilgrimagingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of pilgrimage
First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English pilegrimage ( see pilgrim, -age); replacing earlier pelrimage, alteration of Old French pelerinage
Explanation
A pilgrimage is a journey to a sacred place. People make pilgrimages to places like Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Dharamsala as part of their religious or spiritual practice. A pilgrimage is often a spiritual journey, but some pilgrimages deal with other kinds of devotion. For example, fans often visit the places that are — or were — significant to their heroes. Every August 16th, Elvis Presley fans from around the country make a pilgrimage to his famous former home, Graceland, to commemorate the anniversary of his death.
Vocabulary lists containing pilgrimage
"Beowulf," Vocabulary from the epic poem
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Human Geography - Middle School
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World Religions
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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.
See Examples For:
The experience of pilgrimage became a ritual, and there’s a ghostly quality to these pictures.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
Even snobbishly independent travelers like us, we concluded, could find inspiration in the traditions, landscapes, camaraderie and hospitality a pilgrimage offers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 6, 2026
"They had completed their pilgrimage around Mount Kailash and were going through immigration procedures" at the Gyirong border crossing with China when disaster struck, he said.
From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026
The 53-year-old American flew to Nepal after learning that his wife, Jiwan Jyoti, was untraceable while returning from a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash, the sacred peak revered by Hindus and Buddhists.
From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026
They went toward the Oxford Road, then turned westward through Holborn, stopping a moment to pray at each wayside cross, just as if they had been on a pilgrimage.
From "The Door in the Wall" by Marguerite de Angeli
This forceful memoir recounts the Waldrop household’s pilgrimages across America’s Holy Spirit-scorched heartland.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
Fans trade tips in online communities and treat new locations as pilgrimages.
From Slate ● Aug. 24, 2026
They’re the golden child of the produce aisle, the ingredient that inspires pilgrimages to farmers markets and endless declarations that this is the year we’ll finally grow our own.
From Salon ● Jun. 11, 2026
People make pilgrimages here, like a man who had come on a recent afternoon from the Tierra Caliente, a famously dangerous part of Michoacán.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 18, 2026
The toy store was followed by brutal pilgrimages to Radio City Music Hall, St. Patrick's Cathedral, and the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Plaza.
From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris
A Chicago native, I have admittedly fond memories of post-Little League hot dogs and Italian beef sandwiches, and have pilgrimaged to Buena Park to sample the SoCal outpost.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2024
Veterans of World War II, many of them centenarians and likely returning to France for one last time, pilgrimaged Tuesday to what was the bloodiest of five Allied landing beaches on June 6, 1944.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 4, 2024
In avant-garde New York, one of the most pilgrimaged sites has been the “Dream House,” a sensory environment that since 1993 has occupied the third story of a walk-up on Church Street in Lower Manhattan.
From New York Times ● Apr. 17, 2024
He became their fighter and savior, and these mega-fans pilgrimaged to his concert-like rallies.
From Salon ● Jul. 27, 2021
Yes, even long ago I wished, and to-day I am still on the way, though I have actually pilgrimaged to Jerusalem in Palestine.
From A Tramp's Sketches by Stephen Graham
I returned from vacation just in time to join the pilgrimaging hordes carting cumbersome picnic baskets and enough wine for a few dozen Sicilian weddings.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2025
Also new is the addition of several specific barbecue trails, from urban adventuring to rural pilgrimaging.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 27, 2016
Since the days of the palmers, pilgrimaging to Jerusalem has become less and less devout, until now many people visit the Holy City with no higher motive than curiosity.
From Time Magazine Archive
They laugh at the Britishers journeying thousands of miles to see this place, just as the English smile at the Americans pilgrimaging to Stratford-on-Avon.
From The Confessions of a Caricaturist, Vol. 2 by Harry Furniss
“I am exceedingly hungry, in very deed,” said Ulenspiegel, “and am pilgrimaging against my will.”
From The Legend of Ulenspiegel, Volume I (of 2) And Lamme Goedzak, and their Adventures Heroical, Joyous and Glorious in the Land of Flanders and Elsewhere by Charles Th?odore Henri de Coster
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.
