nice
Used to signify a job well done.
Adjective
- Pleasant, satisfactory, complimentary.
- You weren’t nice to me this morning.
- "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...
- When the party was nice, the party was jumpin' (Hey, Yippie, Yi, Yo) - 1998, “Who Let the Dogs Out?”, performed by Baha Men:
- Of a person: friendly, attractive.
- 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. - 2016 February...
- Respectable; virtuous.
- What is a nice person like you doing in a place like this?
- 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. - 1995, Nick Hornby, High Fidelity, London:...
- Shows that the given adjective is desirable, or acts as a mild intensifier; pleasantly, quite.
- The soup is nice and hot.
- 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. - 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VIII,...
- Giving a favorable review or having a favorable impression.
- For Candy Crush Saga, the critics were far nicer than the audience (7.9/10 vs. 3.1/10).
- Showing refinement or delicacy, proper, seemly
- a nice way of putting it
- Silly, ignorant; foolish.
- Old fashions please me best; I am not so nice To change true rules for odd inventions. - c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, &...
- Particular in one's conduct; scrupulous, painstaking; choosy.
- 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...
- 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...
- 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. - 1999, Sigmund Freud, translated by Joyce Crick, The Interpretation of...
- Having particular tastes; fussy, fastidious.
- Choice, nice in eating; fastidiosus in edendo. - 1898, Joseph Bosworth, T. Northcote Toller, “cís”, in An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, page 156:
- Particular as regards rules or qualities; strict.
- “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...
- "Good company requires only birth, education and manners, and with regard to education is not very nice. Birth and good manners are essential." - 1818, Jane Austen, chapter 16, in Persuasion:
- Showing or requiring great precision or sensitive discernment; subtle.
- "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." - 1914, Saki, Laura:
- It would be a nice theological point to try and establish whether Ophis is Moslem or gnostic. - 1974, Lawrence Durrell, Monsieur, Faber & Faber, published 1992, page 131:
- Why it should have attained such longevity is a nice question. - 2006, Clive James, North Face of Soho, Picador, published 2007, page 242:
- Easily injured; delicate; dainty.
Origin
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”).
Forms
Synonyms
charming delightful friendly kind lovely pleasant sweet appetising appetizing delicious moreish scrummy scrumptious tasty fine subtle
Antonyms
horrible horrid nasty awful disgusting foul nauseating putrid rancid rank sickening distasteful gross unsatisfactory naughty
Related
Derived
buy nice or buy twice have a nice day have a nice day syndrome have a nice life make nice Minnesota nice nice and + adjective nice and easy nice as ninepence nice as pie nice-but-dim nice cream nicefem nice going nice guy nice guys finish last nice guy syndrome niceish nice knowing you niceling nice list nice-looking nicely nicen
Adverb
- Nicely.
- Children, play nice.
- He dresses real nice.
- This riesling's going down nice. - 2002, Gina Riley, Jane Turner, That's Unusual: Scripts from Kath and Kim, Series 2, page 245:
Forms
Interjection
- Used to signify a job well done.
- Nice! I couldn't have done better.
- Used to signify approval.
- Is that your new car? Nice!
Forms
Noun
- niceness.
- She had refused as kindly as she know how, using up as much nice as she had energy for because she was glad of his company when three o'clock rolled around and she started thinking about September. - 2000, Dana...
- We could debate forever about whether we have enough of one or too much of another. But I know one thing for sure: We never have too much nice. - 2013, Todd Whitaker, What Great Teachers Do Differently: 17 Things That...
- It is the absence of rules and too much nice that are more likely to produce terror. - 2014, Jean Illsley Clarke, Connie Dawson, David Bredehoft, How Much Is Too Much?, →ISBN:
Forms
Verb
- To run a process with a specified (usually lower) priority.
Origin
Name of a Unix program used to invoke a script or program with a specified priority, with the implication that running at a lower priority is "nice" (kind, etc.) because it leaves more resources for others.