pilgrimage
Americannoun
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pilgrimages
plural
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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
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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
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pilgrimagesimple
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pilgrimagessimple
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have pilgrimagedperfect
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has pilgrimagedperfect
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am pilgrimagingprogressive
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are pilgrimagingprogressive
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is pilgrimagingprogressive
-
have been pilgrimagingperfect progressive
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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 crowd of money managers, economists and other finance types had made their annual pilgrimage to this fishing mecca in Maine’s wilderness, trading suits for T-shirts and cargo pants.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026
JTB sells tour packages to Japanese fans eager to make the pilgrimage to see Shohei Ohtani play.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 9, 2026
The building has now been substantially refurbished and its facade changed, but it has been a huge headache for Austrian authorities, who want to prevent it from becoming a site of neo-Nazi pilgrimage.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
Austria will formally open a new police station on Wednesday in Adolf Hitler's former house, in the hope of deterring today's ascendant far-right extremists from making the pilgrimage to the Nazi dictator's birthplace.
From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026
Lady sensed the high pressure of the same front and she, like Drum and Duchess, began the long pilgrimage of the peregrine falcon to warmer climates.
From "Frightful's Mountain" by Jean Craighead George
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
Saudi officials have been keen to keep conflict far from the minds of visitors, many whom have travelled long distances for one of the world's largest annual pilgrimages.
From Barron's ● May 25, 2026
He reports dutifully from these pilgrimages and seems tempted to make a statement about the soul of America, but it never comes off.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 14, 2026
His shrine was so important that Pope Callistus II said two pilgrimages to St Davids were worth one to the Vatican.
From BBC ● Mar. 1, 2026
They sang about hearts quivering and pilgrimages ceasing.
From "Krik? Krak!" by Edwidge Danticat
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
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
They hiked the Alps, drew color sketches, pilgrimaged to classical Greek and Roman sites, and toured buildings by Antoni Gaudi in Spain, including the Basílica de la Sagrada Família.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 2, 2017
For Christ at the last day will not ask how much you have prayed, fasted, pilgrimaged, done this or that for yourself, but how much good you have done to others, even the very least.
From A Treatise on Good Works by Martin Luther
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
“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
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
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.
