to a nicety

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Prepositional phrase

to a nicety

1. To a fine point, with great exactness or accuracy.

   Synonym: to a hair

   • 1907, Barbara Baynton, edited by Sally Krimmer and Alan Lawson, Human Toll (Portable Australian Authors: Barbara Baynton), St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, published 1980, page 197:

     "Yes, sure's Gord made liddle apples, 'er'll crack up, an' seems ter me thet would soot some people to a nicety."

   • 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XVII, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:

     She gulped like a bulldog trying to swallow a sirloin steak many sizes too large for its thoracic cavity. “You mean there are two of them?” “Exactly.” “And Wilbert isn't the one I thought he was?” “You have grasped the position of affairs to a nicety.”

References

• “to a nicety”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “to a nicety” in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman.
• “to a nicety”, in Collins English Dictionary.