rite of passage

noun

a ritual performed in some cultures at times when an individual changes status (as from adolescence to adulthood)

• Hypernyms: ↑ritual, ↑rite

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: a ritualistic procedure associated with a nonperiodic crisis or a transitional change of status for an individual (as initiation, marriage, illness, or death)

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1. Anthropol. a ceremony performed to facilitate or mark a person's change of status upon any of several highly important occasions, as at the onset of puberty or upon entry into marriage or into a clan.

2. any important act or event that serves to mark a passage from one stage of life to another.

[1955-60]

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rite of passage or (French) rite de passage /rēt də pas-äzh/ noun (pl rites of passage or rites de passage)

A term, first used by the French anthropologist Arnold van Gennep, for any of the ceremonies (such as those associated with birth, puberty, marriage or death) which mark or ensure a person's transition from one status to another within society

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Main Entry: ↑rite

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rite of passage UK US noun [countable] [singular rite of passage plural ˌrites of ˈpassage]

a ceremony or event that marks an important stage in someone’s life, for example becoming an adult

Thesaurus: general words for ceremonies_hyponym

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rite of passage,

= rite de passage. (Cf. ↑rite de passage)

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a ceremony or event marking an important stage in someone's life, esp. birth, puberty, marriage, and death

a novel that depicts the state of adolescence and the rites of passage that lead to adulthood

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noun, pl rites of passage [count]

: an act that is a symbol of an important change in someone's life

Her ears were pierced as a rite of passage.

For many, going to college is a rite of passage.

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ˌrite of ˈpassage [rite of passage] noun

a ceremony or an event that marks an important stage in sb's life