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

The result is less a rite of passage than a series of disconnected tableaux, dazzling in flashes but never adding up to anything deeper. —David Hochman, Forbes.com, 14 Sep. 2025

Catalina's famous glass-bottom boat tours are a rite of passage for any visitor. —Stacey Leasca, Travel + Leisure, 7 Sep. 2025

And like many, the film has become a rite of passage for cinematographers. —Jazz Tangcay, Variety, 2 Sep. 2025

Grilling burgers is a rite of passage—mastering the art of cooking burgers to the right doneness can mark a new level of cooking confidence. —Katie Rosenhouse, Southern Living, 29 Aug. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1897, in the meaning defined above