nice^*naɪs(adj.)nic•er, nic•est.

1. pleasing; agreeable; delightful:

   a nice visit.

2. amiable; pleasant; kind:

   to be nice to strangers.

3. requiring or displaying great skill, tact, or precision:

   a nice handling of a crisis.

4. indicating very small differences; minutely accurate, as instruments or measurements.

5. minute, fine, or subtle:

   a nice distinction.

6. having or showing delicate perception:

   a nice sense of color.

7. refined in manners, language, etc.

8. virtuous; respectable; decorous.

9. suitable or proper:

   a nice wedding.

10. carefully neat in dress, habits, etc.

11. having fastidious or fussy tastes.

12. Obs. coy, shy, or reluctant.

13. Obs. wanton.

Idioms for nice:

1. nice and,(used as an intensifier to indicate sufficiency, pleasure, comfort, or the like):

   It's nice and warm in here.

   Category: Idiom

^* Usage: 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 is not in keeping with the facts of actual usage. One criticism is that the word has come, through overuse, to lack precision and intensity.

Origin of nice:

1250–1300; ME: foolish, stupid < OF: silly, simple < L nescius ignorant, incapable =ne- negative prefix +-scius, adj. der. of scīre to know; cf. science

nice′ness(n.)

Nicenis(n.)

1. a seaport in SE France, on the Mediterranean: resort. 342,439.

   Category: Geography (places)