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nice - 9 dictionary results
nice
[nahys] 
–adjective, nic⋅er, nic⋅est.
—Idioms| 1. | pleasing; agreeable; delightful: a nice visit. |
| 2. | 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. |
| 13. | Obsolete. coy, shy, or reluctant. |
| 14. | Obsolete. unimportant; trivial. |
| 15. | Obsolete. wanton. |
| 16. | make nice, to behave in a friendly, ingratiating, or conciliatory manner. |
| 17. | nice and, sufficiently: It's nice and warm in here. |
Origin:
1250–1300; ME: foolish, stupid < OF: silly, simple < L nescius ignorant, incapable, equiv. to ne- negative prefix + sci- (s. of scīre to know; see science ) + -us adj. suffix
1250–1300; ME: foolish, stupid < OF: silly, simple < L nescius ignorant, incapable, equiv. to ne- negative prefix + sci- (s. of scīre to know; see science ) + -us adj. suffix
Related forms:
nicely, adverb
niceness, noun
Synonyms:
2. friendly. 3. delicate, exact, exacting, critical, scrupulous, discriminating, discerning, particular. 7. polite. 10, 12. finical.
2. friendly. 3. delicate, exact, exacting, critical, scrupulous, discriminating, discerning, particular. 7. polite. 10, 12. finical.
Antonyms:
1. unpleasant. 2. unkind. 3. careless. 9. improper.
1. unpleasant. 2. unkind. 3. careless. 9. improper.
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.
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.
Nice
[nees] –noun
| a port in and the capital of Alpes-Maritimes, in SE France, on the Mediterranean: resort. 346,620. |
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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|
Link To nice
| nice (nīs) adj. nic·er, nic·est
[Middle English, foolish, from Old French, from Latin nescius, ignorant, from nescīre, to be ignorant; see nescience.] nice'ly adv., nice'ness n. |
| Nice (nēs) 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: 348,000. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Nice
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.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : nice
Spanish:
amable, simpático,
German:
freundlich,
Japanese:
快い
Nice [(nees)]
City in southeastern France on the Mediterranean Sea.
Note: Nice is the most famous resort of the French Riviera.
The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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nice
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"]
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe
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| NICE National Institute for Consumer Education |
The American Heritage® Abbreviations Dictionary, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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