rite of passage

1. 1.

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

   Broaderritual

Questions about rite of passage

What does rite of passage mean?

rite of passage means "a ritual performed in some cultures at times when an individual changes status (as from adolescence to adulthood)".

Is rite of passage a common word?

rite of passage is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.