rose window

American

noun

a circular window decorated with tracery symmetrical about the center.

rose window British

noun

Also called: wheel window. rosette. a circular window, esp one that has ornamental tracery radiating from the centre to form a symmetrical roselike pattern

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of rose window

First recorded in 1765–75

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Zamacona grills hand-cut steaks Santa Maria-style over a red-oak live fire, from behind stained-glass rose window panels.

From Los Angeles Times • May 15, 2025

For years, nobody has been allowed to peek behind the ornate stone walls and intricate rose window of the Catholic Apostolic Church in Albury.

From BBC • Apr. 26, 2025

As a boy he had stood in awe of the High Gothic cathedral, its massive rose window, its imposing gallery of kings.

From New York Times • Dec. 27, 2022

The fugitives entered and left the attic through a rose window, usually under the cover of darkness.

From Reuters • May 4, 2022

The masons put together the pieces of the rose window and installed the tympanums and voussoirs over the doors.

From "Cathedral: The Story of Its Construction" by David Macaulay

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023