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[nahys] /naɪs/

adjective, nicer, nicest.
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.
(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.
13.
Obsolete. coy, shy, or reluctant.
14.
Obsolete. unimportant; trivial.
15.
Obsolete. .
Idioms
16.
make nice, to behave in a friendly, ingratiating, or conciliatory manner.
17.
nice and, sufficiently:
It’s nice and warm in here.
/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)

8.
nice and, pleasingly: it’s nice and cool
/French 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)
/naɪs/
noun 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
adj.

late 13c., “foolish, stupid, senseless,” from Old French nice (12c.) “careless, clumsy; weak; poor, needy; simple, stupid, silly, foolish,” from Latin nescius “ignorant, unaware,” literally “not-knowing,” from ne- “not” (see un-) + stem of scire “to know” (see science). “The sense development has been extraordinary, even for an adj.” [Weekley] — from “timid” (pre-1300); to “fussy, fastidious” (late 14c.); to “dainty, delicate” (c.1400); 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 many examples from the 16th and 17th centuries it is difficult to say in what particular sense the writer intended it to be taken.” [OED]

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,” 1803]

Nice [(nees)]

City in southeastern France on the Mediterranean Sea.

Note: Nice is the most famous resort of the French Riviera.

Related Terms

make nice
National Institute for Consumer Education