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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

nice.

Pleasant, satisfactory, complimentary.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/naɪ̯s/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/naːs//nɑ̟ɪ̯s/Australia/nɒ̈ɪ̯s/Australia
  1. Pleasant, satisfactory, complimentary.

    informal
  2. Of a person: friendly, attractive.

    informal
    You weren’t nice to me this morning.
  3. Respectable; virtuous.

    What is a nice person like you doing in a place like this?
  4. Shows that the given adjective is desirable, or acts as a mild intensifier; pleasantly, quite.

    informal
    The soup is nice and hot.
  5. Giving a favorable review or having a favorable impression.

    informal
    For Candy Crush Saga, the critics were far nicer than the audience (7.9/10 vs. 3.1/10).
  6. Showing refinement or delicacy, proper, seemly

    informal
    a nice way of putting it
  7. Silly, ignorant; foolish.

    obsolete
  8. Particular in one's conduct; scrupulous, painstaking; choosy.

    archaic
  9. Having particular tastes; fussy, fastidious.

    dated
  10. Particular as regards rules or qualities; strict.

    obsolete
  11. Showing or requiring great precision or sensitive discernment; subtle.

  12. Easily injured; delicate; dainty.

    obsolete
  13. Doubtful, as to the outcome; risky.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

From Middle English nyce, nice, nys, from Old French nice, niche, nisce (“simple, foolish, ignorant”), from Latin nescius (“ignorant, not knowing”); compare nesciō (“to know not, be ignorant of”), from ne (“not”) + sciō (“to know”).

adv/naɪ̯s/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/naːs//nɑ̟ɪ̯s/Australia/nɒ̈ɪ̯s/Australia
  1. Nicely.

    colloquial
    Children, play nice.
    He dresses real nice.
Where this word comes from

From Middle English nyce, nice, nys, from Old French nice, niche, nisce (“simple, foolish, ignorant”), from Latin nescius (“ignorant, not knowing”); compare nesciō (“to know not, be ignorant of”), from ne (“not”) + sciō (“to know”).

intj/naɪ̯s/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/naːs//nɑ̟ɪ̯s/Australia/nɒ̈ɪ̯s/Australia
  1. Used to signify a job well done.

    Nice! I couldn't have done better.
  2. Used to signify approval.

    Is that your new car? Nice!
Where this word comes from

From Middle English nyce, nice, nys, from Old French nice, niche, nisce (“simple, foolish, ignorant”), from Latin nescius (“ignorant, not knowing”); compare nesciō (“to know not, be ignorant of”), from ne (“not”) + sciō (“to know”).

noun/naɪ̯s/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/naːs//nɑ̟ɪ̯s/Australia/nɒ̈ɪ̯s/Australia
  1. niceness.

    uncountable
Where this word comes from

From Middle English nyce, nice, nys, from Old French nice, niche, nisce (“simple, foolish, ignorant”), from Latin nescius (“ignorant, not knowing”); compare nesciō (“to know not, be ignorant of”), from ne (“not”) + sciō (“to know”).

verb/naɪ̯s/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/naːs//nɑ̟ɪ̯s/Australia/nɒ̈ɪ̯s/Australia
  1. To run a process with a specified (usually lower) priority.

    Unix · transitive
Where this word comes from

Name of a Unix program used to invoke a script or program with a specified priority, with the implication that running at a lower priority is "nice" (kind, etc.) because it leaves more resources for others.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.