amiably pleasant; kind: They are always nice to strangers.
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.
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.
8.
virtuous; respectable; decorous: a nice girl.
9.
suitable or proper: That was not a nice remark.
10.
carefully neat in dress, habits, etc.
11.
(esp. 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.
—Usage 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.
NiceAudio Help (nēs) Pronunciation Key
A city of southeast France on the Mediterranean Sea northeast of Cannes. Controlled by various royal houses after the 13th century, the city was finally ceded to France in 1860. It is the leading resort city of the French Riviera. Population: 347,000.
c.1290, "foolish, stupid, senseless," from O.Fr. nice "silly, foolish," from L. nescius "ignorant," lit. "not-knowing," from ne- "not" (see un-) + stem of scire "to know." "The sense development has been extraordinary, even for an adj." [Weekley] -- from "timid" (pre-1300); to "fussy, fastidious" (c.1380); to "dainty, delicate" (c.1405); to "precise, careful" (1500s, preserved in such terms as a nice distinction and nice and early); to "agreeable, delightful" (1769); to "kind, thoughtful" (1830). In 16c.-17c. it is often difficult to determine exactly what is meant when a writer uses this word. By 1926, it was pronounced "too great a favorite with the ladies, who have charmed out of it all its individuality and converted it into a mere diffuser of vague and mild agreeableness." [Fowler]
"I am sure," cried Catherine, "I did not mean to say anything wrong; but it is a nice book, and why should I not call it so?" "Very true," said Henry, "and this is a very nice day, and we are taking a very nice walk; and you are two very nice young ladies. Oh! It is a very nice word indeed! It does for everything." [Jane Austen, "Northanger Abbey"]
pleasant or pleasing or agreeable in nature or appearance; "what a nice fellow you are and we all thought you so nasty"- George Meredith; "nice manners"; "a nice dress"; "a nice face"; "a nice day"; "had a nice time at the party"; "the corn and tomatoes are nice today" [ant: awful]
2.
socially or conventionally correct; refined or virtuous; "from a decent family"; "a nice girl" [syn: decent]
3.
done with delicacy and skill; "a nice bit of craft"; "a job requiring nice measurements with a micrometer"; "a nice shot"
4.
excessively fastidious and easily disgusted; "too nice about his food to take to camp cooking"; "so squeamish he would only touch the toilet handle with his elbow" [syn: dainty]
5.
exhibiting courtesy and politeness; "a nice gesture" [syn: courteous]
noun
1.
a city in southeastern France on the Mediterranean; the leading resort on the French Riviera
Nice, CA (CDP, FIPS 51294) Location: 39.12528 N, 122.85051 W Population (1990): 2126 (1315 housing units) Area: 5.5 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water) Zip code(s): 95464
Nice\, a. [Compar. Nicer; superl. Nicest.] [OE., foolish, fr. OF. nice ignorant, fool, fr. L. nescius ignorant; ne not + scius knowing, scire to know. perhaps influenced by E. nesh delicate, soft. See No, and Science.]1. Foolish; silly; simple; ignorant; also, weak; effeminate. [Obs.] --Gower. But say that we ben wise and nothing nice. --Chaucer. 2. Of trifling moment; nimportant; trivial. [Obs.] The letter was not nice, but full of charge Of dear import. --Shak. 3. Overscrupulous or exacting; hard to please or satisfy; fastidious in small matters. Curious not knowing, not exact but nice. --Pope. And to taste Think not I shall be nice. --Milton. 4. Delicate; refined; dainty; pure. Dear love, continue nice and chaste. --Donne. A nice and subtile happiness. --Milton. 5. Apprehending slight differences or delicate distinctions; distinguishing accurately or minutely; carefully discriminating; as, a nice taste or judgment. "Our author happy in a judge so nice." --Pope. "Nice verbal criticism." --Coleridge. 6. Done or made with careful labor; suited to excite admiration on account of exactness; evidencing great skill; exact; fine; finished; as, nice proportions, nice workmanship, a nice application; exactly or fastidiously discriminated; requiring close discrimination; as, a nice point of law, a nice distinction in philosophy. The difference is too nice Where ends the virtue, or begins the vice. --Pope. 7. Pleasing; agreeable; gratifying; delightful; good; as, a nice party; a nice excursion; a nice person; a nice day; a nice sauce, etc. [Loosely & Colloquially] To make nice of, to be scrupulous about. [Obs.] --Shak. Syn: Dainty; delicate; exquisite; fine; accurate; exact; correct; precise; particular; scrupulous; punctilious; fastidious; squeamish; finical; effeminate; silly.
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Audio Help [nahys] Pronunciation Key 
