Nicene

American  

[nahy-seen, nahy-seen] / naɪˈsin, ˈnaɪ sin /

adjective

1. of or relating to Nicaea.

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Nicene British  

/ ˈnaɪsiːn, naɪˈsiːən /

adjective

1. of or relating to Nicaea, an ancient city in NW Asia Minor, or its inhabitants

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Other Word Forms

• non-Nicene adjective

Etymology

Origin of Nicene

1350–1400; Middle English < Late Latin Nīcēnus, variant of Nīcaenus < Greek Nīkaîos ( Nī́kai ( a ) Nicaea + -os adj. suffix), with -n- from Latin adj. suffix -ānus -an

Example Sentences

Standing in front of the basilica’s ruins, Leo, Bartholomew and other church leaders recited the Nicene Creed, the shared statement of Christian faith.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 28, 2025

In 325 AD, among other key decisions, more than 200 bishops at the council affirmed the belief that Jesus was the son of God, eventually leading to what is known as the Nicene Creed.

From BBC • Nov. 26, 2025

The First Council of Constantinople, convened in 381, reestablished the Nicene Creed and addressed the topic of the Holy Spirit, suggesting that the problem of Arius’s sympathizers had not completely disappeared.

From Textbooks • Apr. 19, 2023

Faculty members hired by Calvin University must sign a document saying their beliefs align with a set of historical Christian creeds and confessions, such as the Nicene Creed and the Heidelberg Catechism.

From Washington Post • Nov. 3, 2022

The simple fluent creed of the early Christians took rigid form in the subtleties of the Nicene Creed, and as “Very God of Very God” the final appeal was, logically, to the words of Jesus.

From Pioneers of Evolution from Thales to Huxley With an Intermediate Chapter on the Causes of Arrest of the Movement by Clodd, Edward