Nice in Scrabble Dictionary

Valid words made from Nice

You can make 8 words from 'nice' in our Scrabble US and Canada dictionary.

• 4 letters words from 'nice'
• 3 letters words from 'nice'
• 2 letters words from 'nice'

4 letters words from 'nice'

CINE 6

NICE 6

3 letters words from 'nice'

ICE 5

NIE 3

2 letters words from 'nice'

EN 2	IN 2
NE 2

Definitions and meaning of nice

nice

Alternative forms

• nyc (non-standard)
• noice (slang)

Pronunciation

• enPR: nīs, IPA^(key): /naɪs/
• Rhymes: -aɪs

Etymology 1

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

Adjective

nice (comparative nicer, superlative nicest)

1. Pleasant, satisfactory. [from 18th c.]
   • 1998, Baha Men – “Who Let the Dogs Out?”

     When the party was nice, the party was jumpin' (Hey, Yippie, Yi, Yo)

   • 2008, Rachel Cooke, The Guardian, 20 Apr.:

     "What's difficult is when you think someone is saying something nice about you, but you're not quite sure."

2. Of a person: friendly, attractive. [from 18th c.]
3. Respectable; virtuous. [from 18th c.]

4. (with and) Shows that the given adjective is desirable, or acts as a mild intensifier; pleasantly, quite. [from 18th c.]
5. (obsolete) Silly, ignorant; foolish. [14th-17th c.]
6. (now rare) Particular in one's conduct; scrupulous, painstaking; choosy. [from 14th c.]
   • 1999, Joyce Crick, translating Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams, Oxford 2008, p.83:

     But if I dispense with the dreams of neurotics, my main material, I cannot be too nice [transl. wählerisch] in my dealings with the remainder.

7. (obsolete) Particular as regards rules or qualities; strict. [16th-19th c.]
   • 1818, Jane Austen, Persuasion, chapter 16:

     "Good company requires only birth, education and manners, and with regard to education is not very nice. Birth and good manners are essential."

8. Showing or requiring great precision or sensitive discernment; subtle. [from 16th c.]
   • 1914: Saki, Laura:

     "It's her own funeral, you know," said Sir Lulworth; "it's a nice point in etiquette how far one ought to show respect to one's own mortal remains."

   • 1974, Lawrence Durrell, Monsieur, Faber & Faber 1992, p.131:

     It would be a nice theological point to try and establish whether Ophis is Moslem or gnostic.

   • 2006, Clive James, North Face of Soho, Picador 2007, p.242:

     Why it should have attained such longevity is a nice question.

9. (obsolete) Easily injured; delicate; dainty.
10. (obsolete) Doubtful, as to the outcome; risky. [16th-19th c.]
    • 1822, T. Creevey, Reminiscences, 28 Jul.:

      It has been a damned nice thing - the nearest run thing you ever saw in your life.

Usage notes

Sometimes used sarcastically to mean the opposite or to connote excess:

• 1710, Jonathan Swift, The Examiner No. XIV

  I have strictly observed this rule, and my imagination this minute represents before me a certain great man famous for this talent, to the constant practice of which he owes his twenty years’ reputation of the most skilful head in England, for the management of nice affairs.

• 1930, H.M. Walker, The Laurel-Hardy Murder Case

  Here's another nice mess you've gotten us into.

• 1973, Cockerel Chorus, Nice One, Cyril!

  Nice one, Cyril!

Synonyms

• (easy to like: person): charming, delightful, friendly, kind, lovely, pleasant, sweet
• (easy to like: thing): charming, delightful, lovely, pleasant
• (having a pleasant taste or aroma): appetising/appetizing, delicious, moreish (informal), scrummy (slang), scrumptious (slang), tasty
• (subtle): fine, subtle

Antonyms

• (easy to like: person): horrible, horrid, nasty
• (easy to like: thing): horrible, horrid, nasty
• (having a pleasant taste or aroma): awful, disgusting, foul, horrible, horrid, nasty, nauseating, putrid, rancid, rank, sickening, distasteful, gross, unsatisfactory
• (respectable; virtuous): naughty

Derived terms

Related terms

• nicety

Translations

Descendants

• → Dutch: nice
• → German: nice
• → Danish: nice
• → Swedish: najs, nice
• → Norwegian:
  • Norwegian Bokmål: nice

Adverb

nice (comparative nicer, superlative nicest)

1. (colloquial) Nicely.

Interjection

nice!

1. Used to signify a job well done.

2. Used to signify approval.

Translations

Noun

nice (uncountable)

1. niceness.

Etymology 2

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.

Verb

nice (third-person singular simple present nices, present participle nicing, simple past and past participle niced)

1. (transitive, computing, Unix) To run a process with a specified (usually lower) priority.

Derived terms

• renice

Further reading

• nice in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• nice in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• nice at OneLook Dictionary Search
• Nice at NiceDefinition.com

Anagrams

• Ince, Niec, cien, cine, cine-, icen

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Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈnɪt͡sɛ]
• Rhymes: -ɪtsɛ
• Hyphenation: ni‧ce

Noun

nice

1. dative/locative singular of nika

Anagrams

• Ince

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Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English nice.

Adjective

nice (used only predicatively, not comparable)

1. (slang) nice

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French

Etymology

From Old French nice, inherited from Latin nescius.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nis/

Adjective

nice (plural nices)

1. (archaic) candid, naive

Further reading

• “nice” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

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German

Etymology

English nice

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /naɪ̯s/

Adjective

nice (comparative nicer, superlative am nicesten)

1. (colloquial) good, nice

Further reading

• “nice” in Duden online
• “nice” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

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Middle English

Adjective

nice

1. Alternative form of nyce

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Turkish

Etymology 1

From Ottoman Turkish نیچه‎ (nice, “how much”), from Proto-Turkic *nēče, equative form of *nē (“what”). See ne (“what”), cognate to Karakhanid ناجا‎ (nēčē, “how much”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [niˈd͡ʒe]

Adjective

nice (comparative daha nice, superlative en nice)

1. many

Synonyms

• çok

Etymology 2

Ultimately from Proto-Turkic *nē- (“interrogative archetype”).

Adverb

nice

1. (dialectal or poetic) how

Synonyms

• nasıl

Source: wiktionary.org

• agreeable; precise.
  (source: Collins Scrabble Dictionary)

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