RITE OF PASSAGE Definition & Meaning

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rite of passage

noun

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

rite of passage

/ rit də pɑsaʒ /

noun

a ceremony performed in some cultures at times when an individual changes his status, as at puberty and marriage
a significant event in a transitional period of someone's life

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51�Թ� History and Origins

Origin of rite of passage¹

First recorded in 1955–60

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

It added that it felt "sadness" for the loss of "a rite of passage for many young visitors".

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It has virtually become an annual rite of passage: Dodgers ownership commits to an obscene dollar amount in contracts followed by the L.A.

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Where Tommy John procedures and major shoulder operations once threatened entire careers, they are now akin to a rite of passage for many big leaguers.

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I love the moment in the film when someone says that every Deaf actress plays Sarah in “Children of a Lesser God;” that it is a “rite of passage.”

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It's a rite of passage in the United States: A newly-elected president takes the oath of office before his people.

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