Meanings
nouncoming of age (usually uncountable, plural comings of age)
plural comings of age
- uncountableusuallyA person's journey from childhood or adolescence to adulthood.
- figurativelyuncountableusuallyA maturation; a transition from an inchoate state to a developed state.
Reasoning of this sort presumes that a significant group in the population has become aware not only of its own existence, but of its rights and power. The riot, I can't help feeling, marks a kind of political coming of age for homosexuals in San Francisco and, vicariously, throughout, the country.
1979 June 9, Paul Robinson, “Gays in the Streets”, in The New Republic
Translations
Chinese Mandarin 成年
- 成年 (chéngnián)person's journey from childhood to adulthood
Finnish kasvu, kasvaminen
- kasvuperson's journey from childhood to adulthood
- kasvaminenperson's journey from childhood to adulthood
French passage à l'âge adulte
- passage à l'âge adulteperson's journey from childhood to adulthood
German Erwachsenwerden
- Erwachsenwerdenperson's journey from childhood to adulthood
Hungarian felnőtté válás/érés, felnövés
- felnőtté válás/érésperson's journey from childhood to adulthood
- felnövésperson's journey from childhood to adulthood
- felnövekedésperson's journey from childhood to adulthood
Italian (il) diventare maggiorenne, raggiungimento dell'età adulta
- (il) diventare maggiorenneperson's journey from childhood to adulthood
- raggiungimento dell'età adultaperson's journey from childhood to adulthood
Polish osiągnięcie dojrzałości
- osiągnięcie dojrzałościperson's journey from childhood to adulthood
Portuguese amadurecimento
- amadurecimentoperson's journey from childhood to adulthood
Russian переходный возраст
- переходный возраст (perexodnyj vozrast)person's journey from childhood to adulthood
Swedish mognad
- mognadperson's journey from childhood to adulthood
Cite this entry
APA
coming of age. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/coming%20of%20age
MLA
“coming of age.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/coming%20of%20age. Accessed November 5, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “coming of age,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/coming%20of%20age.
Source: coming of age on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.