Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The quality of showing or requiring careful, precise treatment.
- noun Delicacy of character or feeling; fastidiousness; scrupulousness.
- noun A fine point, small detail, or subtle distinction.
- noun An elegant or refined feature; an amenity.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Ignorance; folly; foolishness; triviality.
- noun Fastidiousness; extreme or excessive delicacy; squeamishness.
- noun Nice discrimination; delicacy of perception; acuteness.
- noun A nice distinction; a refinement; a subtlety; a fine-drawn point or criticism.
- noun Delicacy; exactness; accuracy; precision.
- noun A dainty or delicacy; something rare or choice: usually in the plural.
- noun Nice appearance; agreeableness of appearance
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The quality or state of being nice (in any of the senses of that word.).
- noun Delicacy or exactness of perception; minuteness of observation or of discrimination; precision.
- noun A delicate expression, act, mode of treatment, distinction, or the like; a minute distinction.
- noun with great exactness or accuracy.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A small
detail that isnice orpolite to have but isn'tnecessary . - noun
Subtlety orprecision of use.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun conformity with some esthetic standard of correctness or propriety
- noun a subtle difference in meaning or opinion or attitude
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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That kind of diplomatic nicety from the Russians was so surprising that Clay immediately sent a “Confidential” cable to Washington saying: “Soviet courtesy of this type is so unusual that I attach significance to it as a possible preliminary move to a settlement which would be intended to prevent West German government.”
Daring Young Men RICHARD REEVES 2010
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Note: All this scrupulous nicety is at variance with the decision of St. Paul about meat offered to idols, 1 Cor. x.
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire 1206
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“To a nicety, that is my opinion, now that you put it so clearly, sir.”
Mary Anerley Richard Doddridge 2004
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Then comes the difficult task of felling the trees between the rows of coffee, a work of great nicety, which is partly effected by the final stroke of the axe, and partly by hauling a rope attached to the top of the tree.
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"To a nicety, that is my opinion, now that you put it so clearly, sir."
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One thing that may or may not be a nicety is the Organizer, which keeps a list of projects, code repositories, and iOS devices for testing.
Ars Technica John Timmer 2011
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Another nicety is the way that it holds the iPad itself.
Gear Live 2010
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Another nicety is the brand's Magic Motion zapper.
Crave at CNET UK 2010
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Another nicety is the way that it holds the iPad itself.
Gear Live 2010
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But, Fenty said, no "nicety" would have convinced the council to extend the program.
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