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Definition of nice


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nice  audio  (ns) KEY  

ADJECTIVE:
nic·er , nic·est
  1. Pleasing and agreeable in nature: had a nice time.
  2. Having a pleasant or attractive appearance: a nice dress; a nice face.
  3. Exhibiting courtesy and politeness: a nice gesture.
  4. Of good character and reputation; respectable.
  5. Overdelicate or fastidious; fussy.
  6. Showing or requiring great precision or sensitive discernment; subtle: a nice distinction; a nice sense of style.
  7. Done with delicacy and skill: a nice bit of craft.
  8. Used as an intensive with and: nice and warm.
  9. Obsolete
    1. Wanton; profligate: "For when mine hours/Were nice and lucky, men did ransom lives/Of me for jests" (Shakespeare).
    2. Affectedly modest; coy: "Ere . . . /The nice Morn on th' Indian steep,/From her cabin'd loop-hole peep" (John Milton).

ETYMOLOGY:
Middle English, foolish, from Old French, from Latin nescius, ignorant, from nescre, to be ignorant ; see nescience

OTHER FORMS:
nicely (Adverb), niceness (Noun)


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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition.
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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