vision quest

American

noun

Anthropology.

(especially among some North American Indians) the ritual seeking of personal communication with the spirit world through visions that are induced by fasting, prayer, and other measures during a time of isolation: typically undertaken by an adolescent male.

Etymology

Origin of vision quest

First recorded in 1920–25

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:

vision quest

What she landed on feels both cozy and exploratory — a homecoming disguised as a vision quest.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 13, 2024

Servais briefly pondered the notion of a Kelenic-Rodriguez tandem that’s in sync and raking with consistency — a Seattle vision quest for four years and counting.

From Seattle Times ● May 23, 2023

For lack of a better term, the call was a vision quest.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 18, 2020

The accompanying Vanity Fair interview is a classic of its form, where the reader is required to wade through some agonisingly stultifying details as if it’s some kind of vision quest.

From The Guardian ● Sep. 7, 2017

Why do you think I went looking for you when you went on your vision quest?

From Shaman by Robert Shea

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023