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

With the white coat universally known as a symbol for doctors, the ceremony signifies a rite of passage in the medical community. —Chase Jordan july 24, Charlotte Observer, 24 July 2025

Loving my parents from a distance has become its own rite of passage. —Essence, 24 July 2025

This became a rite of passage for members of the royal family. —Stephanie Nolasco , Ashley Papa, FOXNews.com, 13 July 2025

For Koreans on both sides of the border, reaching the peak has long been a rite of passage, but access has been closed off to most living in South Korea. —Will Ripley, CNN Money, 28 July 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1897, in the meaning defined above