niceness

English

Etymology

From nice +‎ -ness.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈnʌɪsnᵻs/

Noun

niceness (countable and uncountable; plural nicenesses)

1. (obsolete) Silliness; folly. [16th c.]
2. Effeminacy; indulgence in soft living or luxuriousness. [from 16th c.]
   • 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essays, II.10:

     He was a good Citizen, of an honest-gentle nature, as are commonly fat and burly men; for so was he: But to speake truely of him, full of ambitious vanitie and remisse nicenesse [transl. mollesse].

3. (obsolete) Shyness; reserve. [16th-19th c.]
4. Fastidiousness; fine sensitivity. [from 17th c.]
5. Pleasantness, especially of behaviour or personality; agreeableness. [from 19th c.]
6. (computing, Unix) A value determining how much processor time to concede to a running process. (See also nice (verb), renice.)

Anagrams

• incenses