A generic term applied to a circular window, but especially used for those found in churches of the Gothic architectural style and divided into segments by stone mullions and tracery
a stained glass window in circular form with symmetrical roselike tracery typical of Gothic cathedrals See rose windows on the web
A rose window is a large round stained glass window in a church. A large circular window, usually glazed with stained glass, having stone tracery radiating from the center, often with intricate petallike patterns. a circular window in a church, especially one with coloured glass in it. In Gothic architecture, a decorated circular window, often glazed with stained glass, that first appeared in mid-12th-century cathedrals. It was used mainly at the western end of the nave and the ends of the transept. The bar tracery of a High Gothic rose window consisted of a series of radiating forms, each tipped by a pointed arch at the outside of the circle. The rose windows of Notre-Dame de Paris are particularly noteworthy. In later Flamboyant-style tracery, the radiating elements consisted of an intricate network of wavy, double-curved bars