rite of passage
Americannoun
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Anthropology. a ceremony performed to facilitate or mark a person's change of status upon any of several highly important occasions, as at the onset of puberty or upon entry into marriage or into a clan.
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any important act or event that serves to mark a passage from one stage of life to another.
noun
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a ceremony performed in some cultures at times when an individual changes his status, as at puberty and marriage
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a significant event in a transitional period of someone's life
Etymology
Origin of rite of passage
First recorded in 1955–60
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.
A rite of passage to a career on Wall Street, working as a young investment banker has seen many of its vaunted perks scaled back over the years.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 5, 2026
Harry Potter: A Hogwarts Express Adventure will open at the Southern California Railway Museum this summer for guests to experience the Wizarding World rite of passage aboard a real moving train in the Inland Empire.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 15, 2026
The 40-day mourning period following a death is an important rite of passage for Muslims.
From Barron's • Apr. 9, 2026
Besides, being broke and having to pinch pennies in college is a rite of passage, right?
From MarketWatch • Mar. 26, 2026
He was all too aware that he hadn’t actually grabbed his name from the basket of mambas in the temple before being called away, which meant that—technically—he hadn’t completed his last rite of passage.
From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray
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.
