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• 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,
  comparative
• nicest
  superlative

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.

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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.

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nice ¹ 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

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NICE ² 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

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Nice ³ 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)

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Nice Cultural  

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.

Discover More

Nice is the most famous resort of the French Riviera.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

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

Inflected Forms

Adjectives

• nicer
  comparative
• nicest
  superlative

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

See Examples For:

nice Nice NICE nicer nicest

There was no word on whether Kim sent Trump a nice note telling him about it.

From Salon ● Aug. 23, 2026

One could imagine how nice it felt for Thomas to hit an RBI single in the fourth inning, in his first game with the Dodgers and the team’s 12th sellout of the season.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 23, 2026

Ellis Simms: The striker battled hard against Gabriel and beat him once with a nice piece of skill.

From BBC ● 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 is a nice gesture but the dogs pile up on themselves, get tangled and turn inward.

From "Woodsong" by Gary Paulsen

Nice guidance applies to the NHS in England, but the NHS in Wales also frequently follows its recommendations.

From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026

The brothers produced the 1950s-style spy spoof "OSS 117" series and cult comedy "Brice de Nice", as well as a thriller based on former French president Nicolas Sarkozy's rise to power, "Conquest".

From Barron's ● Aug. 18, 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

“I like the hint of cinnamon at the end, Aunt J. Nice little surprise,” he says.

From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold

Appeared in the April 29, 2026, print edition as 'Notable & Quotable: NICE'.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 28, 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

The guidance, from health assessment body NICE, warns weight management is a long-term journey, not a short-term fix.

From BBC ● Aug. 4, 2025

The health watchdog, NICE, will then take stock of how the rollout has been going and decide if it is the right to time to offer it to more people with obesity.

From BBC ● Jun. 22, 2025

NICE, France.—Superbly situated on the shores of the Mediterranean is the City of Nice.

From Shepp's Photographs of the World by James W. Shepp

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

“They start idealizing their old culture; suddenly things seem much nicer than when they lived at home,” she said.

From Salon ● Jul. 11, 2026

Hinckley visits at least once a year, but he doesn’t gamble and spends his time at nicer properties.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 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

“Fine. I don’t have to see your silly old little chicken, I’ve seen my brothers’, and I bet they’re nicer than yours.”

From "When I Was Puerto Rican" by Esmeralda Santiago

Brandreth described Dame Penelope as one of the nicest and kindest people.

From BBC ● Jul. 28, 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

His Clark Kent-esque transformation, from unimposing nice guy — “the nicest guy in the entire world,” Casparius said — to smirking menace whenever the day needs saving is the stuff of comic book legends.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 15, 2026

This included her running gear, headphones, tablet computer, and her nicest clothes.

From BBC ● Mar. 11, 2026

Actually, the second nicest, because a few days later, the Washburns move in.

From "Before We Were Free" by Julia Alvarez