Read full poem →In some close corner of the soul they sin;
Still hoarding up, most scandalously nice,
Amidst their virtues a reserve of vice. 20
Dictionary Entry
Pleasant, agreeable, or kind; showing kindness or good manners; attractive or appealing.
In a Sentence
“It was a nice day for a picnic, with warm sunshine and a gentle breeze.”
This entry also appears in ReadingWillow Preschool word lists, so students can move between the dictionary and year-level study sets.
Origin
From Old French 'nice' (foolish, simple), from Latin 'nescius' (ignorant). Its meaning evolved through 'shy', 'delicate', to 'pleasant' by the 18th century.
Common Phrases
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Poetry examples for “nice”
Excerpts from the ReadingWillow English Library collection.
Read full poem →And now, (as oft in some distemper'd state)
On one nice trick depends the general fate,
An Ace of Hearts steps forth: the King unseen
Read full poem →It is my lady's key, confided with much nice cunning, whisperingly.
He enters on a sob of wind, which gutters the candles almost to swaling.
Read full poem →My back's to this tree,
For you're nothing so nice
That the hind-side of me
Read full poem →where La-writ runs ,/7gMi}g-mac{ just as Lazarillo nad run eatine-mad, the Knight of the
Burning Pestle, romance-mad; Chamont in the Nice Valour, honour-mad^ &c. This it
what our old Encjish writers often distinguish by the name of humour. The stile too of La-
Read full poem →only. 1 had not then attended to the j)Ocm of Beaumont's to Jonson, published at the end of
the Nice Valour, and Woman-Hater, by tlie second folio. If the reader will consult that
poem, he will find that it was sent from the country to Jonson with two of the precedent
Read full poem →Nice Valour; or The Passionate Madman, a comedy.
Read full poem →regard to the Author of those Plays. When I wrote the notes, I supposed it Fletcher, til
Beaumont*8 letter at the end of The Nice Valour, gave me a key, which is given to the reader
in the first section of the Preface, and which explains the difference of manner between Beau-
Read full poem →position, and to have relied on the subsequent editor^ by saying the verses "were published at
the end of the Nice Valour and Woman-Hater, in the second folio." This proves nodiing;
that editor continued theiji with the play to which he found them annexed.