nice
adjective
pleasing; agreeable; delightful.
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nice
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Nice
Nicenouna port in and the capital of Alpes-Maritimes, in southeastern France, on the Mediterranean: known as a vacation resort.
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NICE
NICEacronym(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
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nicer,
comparative
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nicest
superlative
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pleasing; agreeable; delightful.
a nice visit.
- Antonyms:
- unpleasant
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amiably pleasant; kind.
They are always nice to strangers.
- Synonyms:
- friendly
- Antonyms:
- unkind
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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
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showing or indicating very small differences; minutely accurate, as instruments.
a job that requires nice measurements.
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minute, fine, or subtle.
a nice distinction.
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having or showing delicate, accurate perception.
a nice sense of color.
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refined in manners, language, etc..
Nice people wouldn't do such things.
- Synonyms:
- polite
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virtuous; respectable; decorous.
a nice girl.
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suitable or proper.
That was not a nice remark.
- Antonyms:
- improper
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carefully neat in dress, habits, etc.
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(especially of food) dainty or delicate.
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having fastidious, finicky, or fussy tastes.
They're much too nice in their dining habits to enjoy an outdoor barbecue.
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Obsolete. coy, shy, or reluctant.
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Obsolete. unimportant; trivial.
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Obsolete. wanton.
idioms
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nice and, sufficiently.
It's nice and warm in here.
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make nice, to behave in a friendly, ingratiating, or conciliatory manner.
Nice
2
American
[nees]
/ nis /
noun
NICE
1
British
/ naɪs /
acronym
Nice
2
British
/ nis /
noun
nice
3
British
/ naɪs /
adjective
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pleasant or commendable
a nice day
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kind or friendly
a nice gesture of help
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good or satisfactory
they made a nice job of it
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subtle, delicate, or discriminating
a nice point in the argument
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precise; skilful
a nice fit
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rare fastidious; respectable
he was not too nice about his methods
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obsolete
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foolish or ignorant
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delicate
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shy; modest
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wanton
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pleasingly
it's nice and cool
Nice
Cultural
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.
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Nice is the most famous resort of the French Riviera.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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nicenessnoun
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overnicenessnoun
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unnicenessnoun
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nicishadjective
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overniceadjective
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unniceadjective
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nicelyadverb
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overnicelyadverb
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unnicelyadverb
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
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
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:
There was no word on whether Kim sent Trump a nice note telling him about it.
From Salon ● Aug. 23, 2026
Emilio Gay: Only batted once given Pakistan's poor performance and played nice shots in a breezy 33.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
“I’m not someone who lives for attention, so it was nice to get those private communications, especially with all the connections I have made over the years,” Ogwumike said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
The home could also be a nice fit for a family, given its location in the Ivanhoe Elementary School boundary.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 21, 2026
It seemed as if he was remembering some other thing he had heard about Jessica, and it wasn’t going to be nice.
From "Firegirl" by Tony Abbott
Nice guidance applies to the NHS in England, but the NHS in Wales also frequently follows its recommendations.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026
Unions said about half of the company's 900 French-based cabin crew would join the strike, which would affect about half of the flights out of two Paris airports, Nice, Bordeaux and Lyon.
From Barron's ● Aug. 15, 2026
After spending five-and-a-half weeks in Nice, France, last summer, Maddy Renne dropped three dress sizes, going from an eight to a two.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026
“Novo Nordisk has been trying for decades to be Mr. Nice Guy,” said Per Hansen, an economist with Nordnet Bank in Copenhagen.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 5, 2026
“My bad, my bad. Nice to meet you, Mr. Porter. Who else y’all got in here?”
From "The Manifestor Prophecy" by Angie Thomas
Lifestyle changes, as well as treatment, could help to prevent more serious illness, says NICE.
From BBC ● Jun. 30, 2026
Appeared in the April 29, 2026, print edition as 'Notable & Quotable: NICE'.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 28, 2026
The daily pill Veoza was approved in 2023 - but has only now been recommended for treating moderate to severe symptoms of menopausal hot flushes and night sweats on the NHS, by NICE.
From BBC ● Mar. 11, 2026
On Friday the DoH said that NICE, a non-departmental public body tasked with producing guidance on the prevention and treatment of ill-health, "published guidance recommending cabotegravir for preventing HIV-1 in adults and young people".
From BBC ● Oct. 18, 2025
"Don't—don't you think it sounds kind of—well, kind of NICE, Peter?" she asked in a bashful sort of way.
From Mrs. Peter Rabbit by Thornton W. (Thornton Waldo) Burgess
Other than the physicality of it, I do think the fabric selection in New York is nicer, but I wouldn’t be able to do it to the scale I do here.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026
The trip—like others they’ve treated their grandkids to—was nicer than the ones the Lenzas could take their three daughters on when they were growing up.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
“They start idealizing their old culture; suddenly things seem much nicer than when they lived at home,” she said.
From Salon ● Jul. 11, 2026
"The Tartan Army were great - as were the Haiti fans - but it would just have been nicer if it had been organised a bit differently," he said.
From BBC ● Jun. 15, 2026
It isn’t warm and welcoming, but it’s a lot nicer than what I have planned.
From "Linked" by Gordon Korman
“The nicest guy in the world. I just want to be on his side.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 30, 2026
"He's very calm, very humble, one of the nicest people you'll ever meet," he said.
From BBC ● May 18, 2026
“We’ve come from the best cars ever made in Formula One and the nicest to drive,” says reigning world champion Lando Norris, “to probably the worst.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 1, 2026
She says her late husband was "probably the nicest guy that walked the face of the Earth".
From BBC ● Apr. 23, 2026
Noting the irony, he said, “The shoes were picked up in minutes by some of the nicest people in town.”
From "Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow" by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
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.
