tracery
Americannoun
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ornamental work consisting of ramified ribs, bars, or the like, as in the upper part of a Gothic window, in panels, screens, etc.
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any delicate, interlacing work of lines, threads, etc., as in carving or embroidery; network.
noun
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a pattern of interlacing ribs, esp as used in the upper part of a Gothic window, etc
-
any fine pattern resembling this
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of tracery
late Middle English word dating back to 1425–75; see origin at trace 1, -ery
Vocabulary lists containing tracery
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.
See Examples For:
Among them are working drawings that prescribe the profile of every block of stone, each keyed to its exact place in the building, whether gable, tracery or buttress.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 18, 2026
Yet, his exquisite graphite drawing positions a viewer behind an iron railing decorated with the elegant tracery of the king’s monogram.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 14, 2023
In front of the new hedge, a simple 9-foot arbor, also stained a dark color, supports Clematis armandii, providing an evergreen tracery of foliage that’s smothered with fragrant white blooms in early spring.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 3, 2023
Clues in the remaining buildings reveal it had corner turrets and a great hall accessed via an impressive doorway and illuminated by tracery windows.
From BBC ● May 1, 2022
The tracery of the rose window for the front of the cathedral was carefully cut according to the plans.
From "Cathedral: The Story of Its Construction" by David Macaulay
The spots begin to move, and slip-sliding traceries of luminosity explode.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 20, 2023
Early on the Day before Christmas, thin, white clouds seemed to create lacy traceries as they crisscrossed a sky of pure blue.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 24, 2021
Full of linear traceries, they came foremost from his widow, the painter Lee Krasner, and help measure her growing artistic independence.
From New York Times ● Dec. 31, 2015
Charles Emerson's oil-on-canvas "Trajectory of Angels" evokes the essence rather than specifics of angelic beings making fiery, ethereal traceries across a backdrop of autumnal colors.
From Seattle Times ● Nov. 2, 2012
The borders are not carried up into the traceries; their design is sometimes a vine, sometimes yellow castles, or fleur-de-lis of white or green.
From Stained Glass Tours in England by Sherrill, Charles Hitchcock
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.
