nice

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Contents 1 English 1.1 Etymology 1.2 Pronunciation 1.3 Adjective 1.3.1 Quotations 1.3.2 Usage notes 1.3.3 Synonyms 1.3.4 Antonyms 1.3.5 Related terms 1.3.6 Translations 1.4 Interjection 1.5 External links

[edit] English

[edit] Etymology

From Middle English nice, nyce, nys < Old French nice, niche, nisce (“‘simple, foolish, ignorant’”) < Latin nescious (“‘ignorant, not knowing’”); cf. nescire (“‘to know not, be ignorant of’”) < ne (“‘not’”) + scire (“‘to know’”).

Original usage: "A nice distinction", meaning a distinction so subtle it would only be made by the ignorant. Similar in meaning to the phrase "a moot point". The illogical association of "nice" with good feelings probably arose from the loss of the original meaning and a false interpretation of the word's usage.

[edit] Pronunciation

• enPR: nīs, IPA: /naɪs/, SAMPA: /naIs/
•  Audio (US)^{help, file}
• Rhymes: -aɪs

[edit] Adjective

nice (comparative nicer, superlative nicest)

1. Of a thing or person or event, pleasant, pretty.

   What a nice dress!

2. Admirable, enviable.

   A third-term senator holds a nice level of seniority.

3. Innocent; gentle; distinguished by perceived class or virtue.

   What is a nice person like you doing in a place like this?

4. Showing or requiring great precision or sensitive discernment; subtle.

   a nice distinction

   • 1914: Saki, "Laura"

     "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."

5. Neat; elegantly succinct.

   Fermat believed he had a nice proof of his theorem.

6. Bordering on failure or disaster; succeeding by the narrowest of margins.

   "It has been a damned nice thing - the nearest run thing you ever saw in your life" -- The Duke of Wellington shortly after the Battle of Waterloo, 1815.

7. (colloquial) With "and", excellent, pleasantly.

   The soup is nice and hot.

[edit] Quotations

• 1930, H.M. Walker, The Laurel-Hardy Murder Case

  Here's another nice mess you've gotten us into.

[edit] Usage notes

Sometimes used sarcastically to mean the opposite or to connote excess.

[edit] Synonyms

• (easy to like: person): charming, delightful, lovely, pleasant, sweet
• (easy to like: thing): charming, delightful, lovely, pleasant
• (having a pleasant taste or aroma): appetising/appetizing, delicious, moreish (informal), scrummy (slang), scrumptious (slang), tasty
• (subtle): fine, subtle

[edit] Antonyms

• (easy to like: person): horrible, horrid, nasty
• (easy to like: thing): horrible, horrid, nasty
• (having a pleasant taste or aroma): awful, disgusting, foul, horrible, horrid, nasty, nauseating, putrid, rancid, rank, sickening, distasteful, gross, unsatisfactory
• (subtle):

[edit] Related terms

• nicely
• niceness
• nicety
• nice and + adjective
• nice and easy

[edit] Translations

• Bulgarian: приятен, добър, хубав
• Chinese: 宜人的 (yírén de)
• Vietnamese: đẹp

[edit] Interjection

nice!

1. Used to signify a job well done.

   Nice! I couldn't have done better.

[edit] External links

• nice in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• nice in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• nice at OneLook® Dictionary Search