Nowadays, most people use password managers (hopefully). However, there are still some passwords that you need to memorize, like master password (for a password manager), phone lock, wifi password, etc.
Security wise, can passphrase reach the strength of a good password without getting so long that it defeats the purpose of even using it?
Yep, I use phrases for passwords like for managers and phones. I craft them not just for ease of remembering, but also ease of typing. I don’t care that it’s a really long phrase if I can type it quickly.