Jump to:

• nice
  nice

  adjective

  pleasing; agreeable; delightful.
• Nice
  Nice

  noun

  a port in and the capital of Alpes-Maritimes, in southeastern France, on the Mediterranean: known as a vacation resort.
• NICE
  NICE

  acronym

  (in Britain) National Institute for Clinical Excellence: a body established in 1999 to provide authoritative guidance on current best practice in medicine and to promote high-quality cost-effective medical treatment in the NHS

nice

¹ American  

[nahys] / naɪs /

adjective

nicer, nicest

1. pleasing; agreeable; delightful.

   a nice visit.

   Antonyms:

   unpleasant

2. amiably pleasant; kind.

   They are always nice to strangers.

   Synonyms:

   friendly

   Antonyms:

   unkind

3. characterized by, showing, or requiring great accuracy, precision, skill, tact, care, or delicacy.

   nice workmanship; a nice shot; a nice handling of a crisis.

   Synonyms:

   particular, discerning, discriminating, scrupulous, critical, exacting, exact, delicate

   Antonyms:

   careless

4. showing or indicating very small differences; minutely accurate, as instruments.

   a job that requires nice measurements.

5. minute, fine, or subtle.

   a nice distinction.

6. having or showing delicate, accurate perception.

   a nice sense of color.

7. refined in manners, language, etc..

   Nice people wouldn't do such things.

   Synonyms:

   polite

8. virtuous; respectable; decorous.

   a nice girl.

9. suitable or proper.

   That was not a nice remark.

   Antonyms:

   improper

10. carefully neat in dress, habits, etc.

    Synonyms:

    finicky, finical

11. (especially of food) dainty or delicate.

12. having fastidious, finicky, or fussy tastes.

    They're much too nice in their dining habits to enjoy an outdoor barbecue.

    Synonyms:

    finicky, finical

13. Obsolete. coy, shy, or reluctant.

14. Obsolete. unimportant; trivial.

15. Obsolete. wanton.

---

idioms

1. nice and, sufficiently.

   It's nice and warm in here.

2. make nice, to behave in a friendly, ingratiating, or conciliatory manner.

Nice ² American  

[nees] / nis /

noun

1. a port in and the capital of Alpes-Maritimes, in southeastern France, on the Mediterranean: known as a vacation resort.

---

Nice ¹ British  

/ nis /

noun

1. a city in SE France, on the Mediterranean: a leading resort of the French Riviera; founded by Phocaeans from Marseille in about the 3rd century _bc . Pop: 342 738 (1999)

---

nice ² British  

/ naɪs /

adjective

1. pleasant or commendable

   a nice day

2. kind or friendly

   a nice gesture of help

3. good or satisfactory

   they made a nice job of it

4. subtle, delicate, or discriminating

   a nice point in the argument

5. precise; skilful

   a nice fit

6. rare fastidious; respectable

   he was not too nice about his methods

7. obsolete

   1. foolish or ignorant

   2. delicate

   3. shy; modest

   4. wanton

8. pleasingly

   it's nice and cool

---

NICE ³ British  

/ naɪs /

acronym

1. (in Britain) National Institute for Clinical Excellence: a body established in 1999 to provide authoritative guidance on current best practice in medicine and to promote high-quality cost-effective medical treatment in the NHS

---

Nice Cultural  

1. City in southeastern France on the Mediterranean Sea.

---

Sensitive Note

The semantic history of nice is quite varied, as the etymology and the obsolete senses attest, and any attempt to insist on only one of its present senses as correct will not be in keeping with the facts of actual usage. If any criticism is valid, it might be that the word is used too often and has become a cliché lacking the qualities of precision and intensity that are embodied in many of its synonyms.

Discover More

Nice is the most famous resort of the French Riviera.

Other Word Forms

• nicely
  adverb
• niceness
  noun
• nicish
  adjective
• overnice
  adjective
• overnicely
  adverb
• overniceness
  noun
• unnice
  adjective
• unnicely
  adverb
• unniceness
  noun

Etymology

Origin of nice¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English: “foolish, stupid,” from Old French: “silly, simple,” from Latin nescius “ignorant, incapable,” equivalent to ne- negative prefix + sci- (stem of scīre “to know”; see science) + -us adjective suffix

Origin of Nice²

From French, ( Provençal Niça ), from Latin Nīcaea, from Greek Nīkaía, proper noun use of adjective nīkaía “victorious,” from nī́kē “victory”

Explanation

To be nice is to be pleasant and good-natured. Polite people and sunny days are nice. Nice people and situations are enjoyable and don't cause problems. If you say something rude (or honest) to your sibling, your parents might say "Be nice!" This word is a little vague and overused. Like interesting, it's hard to know what people really mean when they say nice. One meaning is easier to figure out: if you score a goal in hockey, that was a nice shot. That means you were skillful and did well — you shot the puck nicely.

Example Sentences

So when we put it out and the critics were very nice this time around, that was cool.

From Los Angeles Times • May 26, 2026

Would have been nice if Ms. Owens had asked why.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 25, 2026

It’s a nice tool in theory, a way to pay attention to the other people on the call and not my Apple Notes interface.

From Slate • May 24, 2026

"I think there's a really nice symbiosis between the two of them, but honestly a lot of it is work, it's connecting off the pitch, it's preparation and it's understanding what they see."

From BBC • May 23, 2026

“I hope you had a nice afternoon with your dad.”

From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison