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.
It’s like a rose water and cardamom flavor.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 12, 2025
The dough is then rolled into small balls, fried and soaked immediately in a warm syrup made from saffron threads and rose water.
From Salon • Oct. 21, 2025
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
Clara stood inches from him, close enough that he could smell her perfume, something a bit old-fashioned with rose water.
From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny
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.
