nice
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: enpr: nīs
ipa: /naɪs/
ipa: /nɑɪs/
ipa: /nɑjs/
note: Falkland Islands English
ipa: /nəɪs/
rhymes: -aɪs
homophone: gneiss
Forms: form: nicer
form: nicest
form: nyc
form: noice
Etymology: From Middle English nyce, nice, nys, from Old French nice, niche, nisce (“simple, foolish, ignorant”), from Latin nescius (“ignorant, not knowing”); compare nesciō (“to know not, be ignorant of”), from ne (“not”) + sciō (“to know”).
Senses: examples: text: You weren’t nice to me this morning.
text: "It's a lot nicer than going round by the road; that is so dusty and hot," said Diana practically, peeping into her dinner basket and mentally calculating if the three juicy, toothsome, raspberry tarts reposing there were divided among ten girls, how many bites each girl would have.
ref: 1908 June, L[ucy] M[aud] Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables, Boston, Mass.: L[ouis] C[oues] Page & Company, →OCLC:
text: When the party was nice, the party was jumpin' (Hey, Yippie, Yi, Yo)
ref: 1998, “Who Let the Dogs Out?”, performed by Baha Men:
text: What's difficult is when you think someone is saying something nice about you, but you're not quite sure.
ref: 2008 April 19, Rachel Cooke, quoting David Lodge, “Nice work”, in The Observer, →ISSN:
glosses: Pleasant, satisfactory.
examples: text: Yes, please tell me how Shillary is the nicest corporate oligarchical servant, and how she will lovingly sell out the people who voted for her to her banker masters, with a twinkle in her fellating eye.
ref: 2016 February 13, Gene Lyons, anonymous quotee, “Understanding the 'Bernie Bros'”, in The Daily Journal, volume 83, number 37, page A11:
glosses: Of a person: friendly, attractive.
examples: text: What is a nice person like you doing in a place like this?
text: She was so nice, in fact, that she wouldn't let me put my hand underneath or even on top of her bra, and so I finished with her, although obviously I didn't tell her why.
ref: 1995, Nick Hornby, High Fidelity, London: Victor Gollancz, →ISBN, page 14:
glosses: Respectable; virtuous.
examples: text: The soup is nice and hot.
text: We toted in the wood and got the fire going nice and comfortable. Lord James still set in one of the chairs and Applegate had cabbaged the other and was hugging the stove.
ref: 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VIII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
glosses: Shows that the given adjective is desirable, or acts as a mild intensifier; pleasantly, quite.
raw_tags: with and
examples: text: For Candy Crush Saga, the critics were far nicer than the audience (7.9/10 vs. 3.1/10).
glosses: Giving a favorable review or having a favorable impression.
examples: text: a nice way of putting it
glosses: Showing refinement or delicacy, proper, seemly
examples: text: Old fashions please me best; I am not so nice
To change true rules for odd inventions.
ref: c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:
glosses: Silly, ignorant; foolish.
examples: text: There is nothing he seemed to be more carefull of than of his honesty, and observe a kinde of decencie of his person, and orderly decorum in his habits, were it on foot or on horsebacke. He was exceeding nice in performing his word or promise.
ref: 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 2, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:
text: Mr Blifil, I am confident, understands himself better than to think of seeing my niece any more this morning, after what hath happened. Women are of a nice contexture; and our spirits, when disordered, are not to be recomposed in a moment.
ref: 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling:
text: But if I dispense with the dreams of neurotics, my main material, I cannot be too nice [translating wählerisch] in my dealings with the remainder.
ref: 1999, Sigmund Freud, translated by Joyce Crick, The Interpretation of Dreams, Oxford, published 2008, page 83:
glosses: Particular in one's conduct; scrupulous, painstaking; choosy.
examples: text: Choice, nice in eating; fastidiosus in edendo.
ref: 1898, Joseph Bosworth, T. Northcote Toller, “cís”, in An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, page 156:
glosses: Having particular tastes; fussy, fastidious.
examples: text: “Well, my dear,” he deliberately began, “considering we never saw her before, she seems a very pretty sort of young lady; and I dare say she was very much pleased with you. She speaks a little too quick. A little quickness of voice there is which rather hurts the ear. But I believe I am nice; I do not like strange voices; and nobody speaks like you and poor Miss Taylor. ..."
ref: 1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], chapter 14, in Emma: […], volume II, London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, →OCLC:
text: "Good company requires only birth, education and manners, and with regard to education is not very nice. Birth and good manners are essential."
ref: 1818, Jane Austen, chapter 16, in Persuasion:
glosses: Particular as regards rules or qualities; strict.
examples: text: "It's her own funeral, you know," said Sir Lulworth; "it's a nice point in etiquette how far one ought to show respect to one's own mortal remains."
ref: 1914, Saki, Laura:
text: It would be a nice theological point to try and establish whether Ophis is Moslem or gnostic.
ref: 1974, Lawrence Durrell, Monsieur, Faber & Faber, published 1992, page 131:
text: Why it should have attained such longevity is a nice question.
ref: 2006, Clive James, North Face of Soho, Picador, published 2007, page 242:
glosses: Showing or requiring great precision or sensitive discernment; subtle.
glosses: Easily injured; delicate; dainty.
examples: text: [W]ere it good / To ſet the exact wealth of al our ſtates / Al at one caſt? to ſet ſo rich a maine / On the nice hazard of one doubtfull houre?
ref: c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:
english: Is it good / To bet all of our wealth / On one throw of the dice? To place so high a stake / On the risky hazard of one doubtful hour?
translation: Is it good / To bet all of our wealth / On one throw of the dice? To place so high a stake / On the risky hazard of one doubtful hour?
bold_translation_offsets: 100
105
text: It has been a damned nice thing - the nearest run thing you ever saw in your life.
ref: 1822 July 28, T. Creevey, Reminiscences:
glosses: Doubtful, as to the outcome; risky.
Synonyms: sense: easy to like: person
word: charming
word: delightful
word: friendly
word: kind
word: lovely
word: pleasant
word: sweet
sense: easy to like: thing
word: charming
sense: having a pleasant taste or aroma
word: appetising
sense: having a pleasant taste or aroma
word: appetizing
sense: having a pleasant taste or aroma
word: delicious
sense: having a pleasant taste or aroma
word: moreish
sense: having a pleasant taste or aroma
word: scrummy
sense: having a pleasant taste or aroma
word: scrumptious
sense: having a pleasant taste or aroma
word: tasty
sense: subtle
word: fine
sense: subtle
word: subtle
Derived terms: sense: Terms derived from nice (adjective)
word: have a nice day
sense: Terms derived from nice (adjective)
word: have a nice day syndrome
sense: Terms derived from nice (adjective)
word: have a nice life
sense: Terms derived from nice (adjective)
word: make nice
sense: Terms derived from nice (adjective)
word: Minnesota nice
sense: Terms derived from nice (adjective)
word: nice and + adjective
sense: Terms derived from nice (adjective)
word: nice and easy
sense: Terms derived from nice (adjective)
word: nice as ninepence
sense: Terms derived from nice (adjective)
word: nice as pie
sense: Terms derived from nice (adjective)
word: nice-but-dim
sense: Terms derived from nice (adjective)
word: nice cream
sense: Terms derived from nice (adjective)
word: nicefem
sense: Terms derived from nice (adjective)
word: nice guy
sense: Terms derived from nice (adjective)
word: nice guys finish last
sense: Terms derived from nice (adjective)
word: nice guy syndrome
sense: Terms derived from nice (adjective)
word: niceish
sense: Terms derived from nice (adjective)
word: nice knowing you
sense: Terms derived from nice (adjective)
word: niceling
sense: Terms derived from nice (adjective)
word: nice-looking
sense: Terms derived from nice (adjective)
word: nicely
sense: Terms derived from nice (adjective)
word: nicen
sense: Terms derived from nice (adjective)
word: nice Nelly
sense: Terms derived from nice (adjective)
word: nice-Nelly
sense: Terms derived from nice (adjective)
word: nice-nelly
sense: Terms derived from nice (adjective)
word: nice-nellyism
sense: Terms derived from nice (adjective)
word: nice-Nellyism
sense: Terms derived from nice (adjective)
word: niceness
sense: Terms derived from nice (adjective)
word: nice-nice
sense: Terms derived from nice (adjective)
word: nice one
sense: Terms derived from nice (adjective)
word: nicery
sense: Terms derived from nice (adjective)
word: nice-to-have
sense: Terms derived from nice (adjective)
word: nice to meet you
sense: Terms derived from nice (adjective)
word: nice try
sense: Terms derived from nice (adjective)
word: nicety
sense: Terms derived from nice (adjective)
word: Niceville
sense: Terms derived from nice (adjective)
word: nice weather for ducks
sense: Terms derived from nice (adjective)
word: nice work if you can get it
sense: Terms derived from nice (adjective)
word: nicey-nice
sense: Terms derived from nice (adjective)
word: outnice
sense: Terms derived from nice (adjective)
word: overnice
sense: Terms derived from nice (adjective)
word: play nice
sense: Terms derived from nice (adjective)
word: seminice
sense: Terms derived from nice (adjective)
word: sugar and spice and everything nice
sense: Terms derived from nice (adjective)
word: supernice
sense: Terms derived from nice (adjective)
word: this is why we can't have nice things
sense: Terms derived from nice (adjective)
word: ultranice
sense: Terms derived from nice (adjective)
word: unnice
Related terms: nicety