coming of age
Reaching young adulthood
Coming of age is the transition from childhood to adulthood—a threshold crossing that brings new rights, responsibilities, or understanding.
The phrase describes both the process and the moment: a coming-of-age story, her coming of age as an artist.
Legal coming of age varies by jurisdiction, typically falling at eighteen or twenty-one.
Cultural and religious traditions often mark the passage with ceremony.
- rite of passageTransition-marking ceremony
- bar mitzvahJewish adulthood ceremony
- pubertySexual development stage
- bildungsromanFiction of psychological maturation
- walkaboutExtended journey on foot
teenage angst · rite · adulthood · Rumspringa · bora · finding yourself · initiation · self-discovery · quinceañera · formative years · identity formation · young adult fiction · maturity · driver's license · first job · leaving home · vision quest · personal growth
- cultural heritagefolklore, traditions, customs, folk music revival, museum collections
- Classical YouthCupid, Eros, Icarus, Telemachus, Orestes
- initiation ritesrite of passage, initiation rite, walkabout, tribal initiation, puberty rites
- writing promptswhat if, scenarios, character sketches, moral dilemmas, alternate history
- girlhood themesgirlhood, girl power, innocence, femininity, adolescence
- familymother, father, parents, siblings, parent
coming of agechildhood
Life's earliest phase
infancy · arrested development · Peter Pan syndrome · immaturity · youth
coming of agedecline
Decrease or refuse
senescence · end of life · dotage · twilight years · aging out
coming of ageinnocence
Freedom from wrongdoing
naivety · inexperience · unworldliness · wide-eyed wonder · blissful ignorance
come, aged, coming, becoming, ages, became, upcoming, becomes, unbecoming