nice

[ nahys ]
/ naɪs /
SEE SYNONYMS FOR nice ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective, nic·er, nic·est.

Idioms for nice

    make nice, to behave in a friendly, ingratiating, or conciliatory manner.
    nice and, sufficiently: It's nice and warm in here.

Origin of nice

1250–1300; Middle English: foolish, stupid < Old French: silly, simple < Latin nescius ignorant, incapable, equivalent to ne- negative prefix + sci- (stem of scīre to know; see science) + -us adj. suffix

usage note for nice

The semantic history of nice is quite varied, as the etymology and the obsolete senses attest, and any attempt to insist on only one of its present senses as correct will not be in keeping with the facts of actual usage. If any criticism is valid, it might be that the word is used too often and has become a cliché lacking the qualities of precision and intensity that are embodied in many of its synonyms.

OTHER WORDS FROM nice

WORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH nice

nice niceness nicety nice Nice gneiss nice (see usage note at the current entry)

Words nearby nice

nicaean, nicam, nicaragua, nicaraguan, niccolite, nice, nice guys finish last, nice nelly, nice-looking, nice-nelly, nice-nellyism

Words related to overnice

pompous, stilted, abstruse, squeamish, prudish, puritanical, prissy, fastidious, uptight, narrow-minded, choosy, discriminating, exacting, finicky, fussy, scrupulous, academic, arid, didactic, doctrinaire

Example sentences from the Web for overnice

  • What was she trying to say with her dark hints and overnice scruples of a Puritan conscience?

    Heralds of Empire |Agnes C. Laut

British Dictionary definitions for overnice (1 of 4)

overnice
/ (ˌəʊvəˈnaɪs) /

adjective

too fastidious, precise, etc

British Dictionary definitions for overnice (2 of 4)

nice
/ (naɪs) /

adjective

Derived forms of nice

nicely, adverb niceness, noun nicish, adjective

Word Origin for nice

C13 (originally: foolish): from Old French nice simple, silly, from Latin nescius ignorant, from nescīre to be ignorant; see nescience

British Dictionary definitions for overnice (3 of 4)

Nice
/ (French nis) /

noun

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)

British Dictionary definitions for overnice (4 of 4)

NICE
/ (naɪs) /

n acronym for

(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

Cultural definitions for overnice

Nice
[ (nees) ]

City in southeastern France on the Mediterranean Sea.

notes for Nice

Nice is the most famous resort of the French Riviera.