From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishbaptism of/by firebaptism of/by fireFIRSTa difficult or painful first experience of something The campaign has been a baptism of fire. → baptism
Examples from the Corpus
baptism of/by fire• It had been a baptism by fire, but she had come through.• It is almost impossible to see where events will lead but you are going through a baptism of fire.• An as-yet-unproven system called J-STARS, getting its baptism of fire in the Gulf, illustrates the point.• My baptism of fire had been with Leon Brittan who was Chief Secretary until the 1983 general election.• This was our baptism of fire and we learned many lessons.• Beige popsters take a vicarious pride in the slow baptism of fire that their chosen genre and its protagonists underwent.• Diana admits that she wasn't easy to handle during that baptism of fire. 