rite of passage

noun

plural rites of passage

: a ritual, event, or experience that marks or constitutes a major milestone or change in a person's life

Rites of passage celebrate the social movement of individuals into and out of groups or into or out of statuses of critical importance to the individual and to the community. Reproduction, the achievement of manhood and womanhood, marriage, and death are the principal worldwide occasions for rites of passage.

—Marvin Harris

For them the two years of missionary work, with the rigorous bootcamp-style training preceding it, is a rite of passage between graduation and marriage, adolescence and adult life.

—Malise Ruthven

Today, when each year American society becomes more complex, a veritable tapestry of nationalities, the strongest of our common threads may well be the rites of passage all immigrants face.

—Harold Holzer

The author, grandson of the poet Allen Tate, dropped out of Sewanee University after going through the by-now familiar 1960's rite of passage of drugs, sex, and antiwar demonstrations …

—Caroline Seebohm

compare initiation rite

Examples of rite of passage in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Creating an easier and earlier entry point into hearing assistance could help Americans absorb the idea that hearing loss is a spectrum, and that treatment need not be a rite of passage associated with old age. —Charley Locke, The Atlantic, 19 Sep. 2024

Writing and directing a series is a rite of passage for any celebrated European filmmaker — so why shouldn’t Oscar winner Thomas Vinterberg follow in the footsteps of Ingmar Bergman and Rainer Werner Fassbinder? —Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire, 17 Sep. 2024

Getting ghosted is an unfortunate rite of passage in sales. —Sarah Chmielewski, Forbes, 3 Sep. 2024

Around the country, high housing costs are turning a normal rite of passage for a young couple into a game of grit and chance. —Daniel De Visé, USA TODAY, 15 Aug. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1897, in the meaning defined above