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

For many actresses, channeling Monroe, who died 50 years ago at 36 of an overdose of barbiturates, is virtually a rite of passage. —Rebecca Mead, Allure, 29 May 2026

Breakfast here is practically a rite of passage. —Lauren Dana Ellman, Travel + Leisure, 28 May 2026

While summer jobs have long been a rite of passage for teens, this year's trends suggest that tradition may be shifting. —Hannah McIlree, CBS News, 27 May 2026

Before the interstates, before the road trip became a rite of passage, before the family station wagon became a cultural institution, Americans and cars belonged together. —Gil West, Rolling Stone, 19 May 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1897, in the meaning defined above