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View synonyms for nice

nice

1

[ nahys ]

adjective

, nic·er, nic·est.
  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. 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.


Nice

2

[ nees ]

noun

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

NICE

1

/ naɪs /

acronym for

  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

2

/ 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

3

/ 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. nice and
    pleasingly

    it's nice and cool

Nice

  1. City in southeastern France on the Mediterranean Sea .


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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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Notes

Nice is the most famous resort of the French Riviera .

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Derived Forms

  • ˈniceness, noun
  • ˈnicish, adjective
  • ˈnicely, adverb

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Other Words From

  • nicely adverb
  • niceness noun
  • over·nice adjective
  • over·nicely adverb
  • over·niceness noun
  • un·nice adjective
  • un·nicely adverb
  • un·niceness noun

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Word History and Origins

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”; 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”

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Word History and Origins

Origin of nice1

C13 (originally: foolish): from Old French nice simple, silly, from Latin nescius ignorant, from nescīre to be ignorant; see nescience

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Idioms and Phrases

Idioms
  1. make nice, to behave in a friendly, ingratiating, or conciliatory manner.
  2. nice and, sufficiently:

    It's nice and warm in here.

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Example Sentences

From there we took the train to Nice, France, but the French border control caught us and sent us back to Italy.

Another beautiful Eminor number, with a nice shift up to the major for the chorus.

Champagne, which is also acidic, offers a nice complement to anything from tuna tartare to beef bourguignon.

And there are a few nice things buried beneath the rubble that I could use in my apartment.

It was also nice to have a place where my family and friends could see what was going on in my life.

They gave us three laptops (to run our light show) and a nice chunk of cash.

At which Bezos turned to the packed audience, smiled weakly, and said: “This is Henry being nice to me!”

In fact, plenty of Republicans even said nice things about her.

He dressed nice in Next Generation clothing, so it is kind of pricier, so I figure that he had money.

“Nobody sent us over there to be sure it was a nice guy,” Holm says.

Lena, Emilia, and I are laughing because we sorted the wig thing out nice and early.

And as his stunned neighbors in Normandy might tell you, even allegedly nice guys are fair game.

And as neighbors have unfailingly emphasized in local media interviews, he was supposed to be a nice guy.

He was very sincere and nice, but I saw him glance at the pink moustache across my lip.

It was kind of nice, lying immobilized on the sidewalk for a moment and watching the world go by.

But he does it in a nice way; the bodyguard turns up with shopping.

But it was a real gong and it came with a nice ribbon and a letter from the Queen.

It occurred to me it might be nice to finish for the 25th anniversary of the fall of the wall.

“It would have been nice for you and I to buy the Washington Post,” Saban told Adelson.

Plan a nice funeral, if you must, sing some songs, and send him off with a bouquet of winter lilies.

There is more of artfulness in the flatteries which appear to involve a calculating intention to say the nice agreeable thing.

I don't care, it ain't nice, and I wonder aunt brought us to such a place.

And right after that, some nice sour milk would come splashing down into the trough of the pen.

The boy backed away from him, and stood a little distance off, holding out a nice, juicy potato this time.

"I don't think that is a very nice taste," said Davy, beginning to feel very uneasy.

I ushered you into this wicked world, young man, and a nice use you seem to have made of your time.

Two nice American girls, sisters, from the West, came on from Berlin on purpose for my concert.

He tole her he had a nice forty acres fer sale–hunderd down, the balance later on.

Even a comfortable rocker would not be very nice in which to take a long journey.

I worked a big deal in futures for their father this morning; nice girls; it's time they were getting married.

A-course, Mrs. Bridger got a nice little pile of money fer it, and paid Curry the balance she owed him.

I would, too, but ma she hadn't nothing nice cooked up, and she was sort of scared offerin' city folks country victuals.

It would have been nice to see Meadows wind up rich, or for Howlet to become mayor of the dome, but what could I do?

She's one the 'ristocratics lives up-mounting here and a real nice woman, even if she is rich.

Some time this summer we are going to get up a nice crowd and sail as far as Bar Harbor—maybe.

Both sexes were indiscriminately admitted, after a nice scrutiny into their qualifications.

Very nice animals, maam, replied Mr. Bumble, approvingly; so very domestic.

A many many beautiful corpses she laid out, as nice and neat as wax-work.

But for that price I'll see that you and all your boys get a nice cool spot to hideout in, somewhere a long way from New York.

He isn't half as nice as Jim Barlow, for all he's so much better looking and richer.

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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.

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niccoliteNice guys finish last