Webster
✕

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Nice

Nice (nīs), a. [Compar. Nicer; superl. Nicest.] [OE., foolish, fr. OF. nice ignorant, fool, fr. L. nescius ignorant; ne not + scius knowing, scire to know. perhaps influenced by E. nesh delicate, soft. See No, and Science.] 1. Foolish; silly; simple; ignorant; also, weak; effeminate. [Obs.] Gower.

But say that we ben wise and nothing nice. Chaucer.

2. Of trifling moment; unimportant; trivial. [Obs.]

The letter was not nice, but full of charge Of dear import. Shak.

3. Overscrupulous or exacting; hard to please or satisfy; fastidious in small matters.

Curious not knowing, not exact but nice. Pope.

And to taste Think not I shall be nice. Milton.

4. Delicate; refined; dainty; pure.

Dear love, continue nice and chaste. Donne.

A nice and subtile happiness. Milton.

5. Apprehending slight differences or delicate distinctions; distinguishing accurately or minutely; carefully discriminating; as, a nice taste or judgment. "Our author happy in a judge so nice." Pope. "Nice verbal criticism." Coleridge.

6. Done or made with careful labor; suited to excite admiration on account of exactness; evidencing great skill; exact; fine; finished; as, nice proportions, nice workmanship, a nice application; exactly or fastidiously discriminated; requiring close discrimination; as, a nice point of law, a nice distinction in philosophy.

The difference is too nice Where ends the virtue, or begins the vice. Pope.

7. Pleasing; agreeable; gratifying; delightful; good; as, a nice party; a nice excursion; a nice person; a nice day; a nice sauce, etc. [Loosely & Colloquially]

To make nice of, to be scrupulous about. [Obs.] Shak.

Syn. — Dainty; delicate; exquisite; fine; accurate; exact; correct; precise; particular; scrupulous; punctilious; fastidious; squeamish; finical; effeminate; silly.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.