having the aroma or fragrance of rose water.
affectedly delicate, nice, or fine; sentimental.
a Victorian novelist with a genteel, rose-water style.
scented water used as a perfume and in cooking, made by the distillation of rose petals or by impregnation with oil of roses
( as modifier )
rose-water scent
(modifier) elegant or delicate, esp excessively so
First recorded in 1350–1400
First recorded in 1655–65
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Before you leave, order a coffee — flavors like rose water, pistachio, and orange blossom tahini offer a refreshing finish to the meal.
From Salon • Jun. 11, 2026
So Mr Jain decided to turn his roses into rose water and rose oil.
From BBC • Oct. 2, 2023
Consider some of the dishes on the 2022 menu: carrot kebab with grapefruit; barley with pork broth and rose water; and beef tongue with seaweed crystal.
From New York Times • May 11, 2023
Seven days later, in accordance with Hindu cremation rites, he lay in a coffin bedecked in incense, rose water and honey.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 23, 2022
He sipped some rose water before asking, "You know the tale of how I found the flower of immortality in a cave at the bottom of the endless ocean?"
From "City of the Plague God" by Sarwat Chadda
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
