Pilgrimage
noun /ˈpɪlɡrɪmɪdʒ/ — A journey made to a sacred or significant place, with a sense of purpose or devotion.
Definition
A journey — physical or metaphorical — undertaken to a place of special significance, with a seriousness of purpose that distinguishes it from ordinary travel. The destination matters less than the intention.
Beyond the definition
Everyone has made a pilgrimage that wasn't called one. The visit to a childhood home, the trip to where someone is buried, the journey to the city where everything began. Pilgrimage is travel made holy by the care you bring to it.
Origin & history
From Old French 'pelegrinage,' from 'pelerin' (pilgrim), from Latin 'peregrinus' (foreigner, traveller) — from 'peregre' (abroad). To be on pilgrimage is to be a foreigner seeking something.
Example sentences
Illustrative sentences for learning, not verified community posts or sourced quotations.
She made a pilgrimage to the town her grandfather had left as a young man.
The walk to the cathedral had been a pilgrimage for eight centuries and counting.
It was, she understood later, a pilgrimage — though she'd called it a holiday.
Synonyms
sacred journey, quest, voyage, odyssey
Antonyms
aimless wandering
Related words
Word in the Wild
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Illustrative sentences and imagined stories for learning — not verified sightings, interviews, or sourced quotations.
Fictional scene
Sole figure on mountain ridge
An adult walks steadily with a wooden staff along a narrow, high mountain ridge under a clear sky.
The solitary, intentional pace of the figure walking through the vast landscape evokes the purpose of a pilgrimage. It emphasizes the journey itself as a chosen act of significance, where the path and the effort define the traveler's inner intent.
Image credit: Wordspun · AI-generated conceptual illustration