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.
When I was growing up in Nebraska, detasseling corn was a rite of passage.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026
College student Zara Hawkins, 17, agrees attending feels like a rite of passage for teenagers in the UK, and she is "really excited" for her first time at Leeds Festival.
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026
Getting bangs was a local rite of passage; even if they flopped, I’d be setting out on the same Hero’s Journey as most of my new neighborhood.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
"They were just going over to have a bit of fun and just doing the rite of passage that every, you know, child or teenager does. So that outcome was just devastating."
From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026
No one accompanies him on this legal rite of passage, and when he steps out of the room no one is waiting to commemorate the moment with flowers and Polaroid snap-shots and balloons.
From "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri
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.
