Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Nicely |
NicelyAdverb1. In a nice way; "a nicely painted house". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "nicely" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1350. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Tips from 1870 | Usage: Nicely. "How do you feel this morning?" "Nicely, thank you." The foregoing use of the word is as incorrect as it is common. Use very well instead. Source: Slips of Speech. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Completeness | Adverb: completely; Adjective: altogether, outright, wholly, totally, in toto, quite; all out; over head and ears; effectually, for good and all, nicely, fully, through thick and thin, head and shoulders; neck and heel, neck and crop; in all respects, in every respect; at all points, out and out, to all intents and purposes; toto coelo; utterly; clean, clean as a whistle; to the full, to the utmost, to the backbone; hollow, stark; heart and soul, root and branch, down to the ground. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Nicely |
| English words defined with "nicely": back ♦ dorsum ♦ kempt ♦ Sharp-witted ♦ tidy, Tretys, trim. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "nicely": barbecue manoeuvre ♦ GEOS ♦ Public-house Signs ♦ tariff, Thats a nice one ♦ Yellow Book, Jargon. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Nicely put, Frank, but I don't want to leave this miserable world alone (In the Line of Fire; writing credit: Jeff Maguire) Everything I ever wanted to know about serial killers fit nicely on those four pages (Kalifornia; writing credit: Tim Metcalfe. Starring Brad Pitt as Early Grayce, Juliette Lewis as Adele Corners, David Duchovny as Brian Kessler, and Michelle Forbes as Carrie Laughlin.) Well, since you asked so nicely. Your little kitty cat pulled some kind of alien gizmo off of Megatron's machine (Beast Wars: Transformers; writing credit: Bob Forward; Lawrence G. DiTillio) It would be bad form to arrive early; in the nick of time would do nicely. (A Bridge Too Far; writing credit: Cornelius Ryan; William Goldman) If I ask him really nicely do you think he'd let me write a children's book called that (Buffy the Vampire Slayer; writing credit: Doreen Spicer) | |
Lyrics | American Express will do nicely, thank you (PRIVATE DANCER; performing artist: Tina Turner) | |
Tongue Twisters | Nine nice night nurses nursing nicely. (references; author: unknown) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Nicely Rewarded (1925) Splash Me Nicely (1917) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Shown is an apple pie nicely displayed on a table with a single slice on a plate and a lily lying nearby. Credit: Len Rizzi (photographer). |  | A U.S. Marine poses with a nicely decorated locker, in the ship's Marine berthing area, circa 1929. This man may be R.H. Galvin, whose name is stencilled on the locker door. Credit: NAVY. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
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| "Charger Cap" by John Sanderson Commentary: "Notice the surface development in the reflections... integrate nicely with the stripe and fuel filler." | "Japanese well" by Samy Yang Commentary: "This is a Japanese well. I wanted to capture the water falling from the spout, but my camera didn't catch it very nicely. Oh well. I still like it. ." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. | |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | TARIFF, n. A scale of taxes on imports, designed to protect the domestic producer against the greed of his consumer. The Enemy of Human Souls Sat grieving at the cost of coals; For Hell had been annexed of late, And was a sovereign Southern State. "It were no more than right," said he, "That I should get my fuel free. The duty, neither just nor wise, Compels me to economize -- Whereby my broilers, every one, Are execrably underdone. What would they have? -- although I yearn To do them nicely to a turn, I can't afford an honest heat. This tariff makes even devils cheat! I'm ruined, and my humble trade All rascals may at will invade: Beneath my nose the public press Outdoes me in sulphureousness; The bar ingeniously applies To my undoing my own lies; My medicines the doctors use (Albeit vainly) to refuse To me my fair and rightful prey And keep their own in shape to pay; The preachers by example teach What, scorning to perform, I teach; And statesmen, aping me, all make More promises than they can break. Against such competition I Lift up a disregarded cry. Since all ignore my just complaint, By Hokey-Pokey! I'll turn saint!" Now, the Republicans, who all Are saints, began at once to bawl Against his competition; so There was a devil of a go! They locked horns with him, tete-a-tete In acrimonious debate, Till Democrats, forlorn and lone, Had hopes of coming by their own. That evil to avert, in haste The two belligerents embraced; But since 'twere wicked to relax A tittle of the Sacred Tax, 'Twas finally agreed to grant The bold Insurgent-protestant A bounty on each soul that fell Into his ineffectual Hell. Edam Smith |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Nicely" is generally used as an adverb (general) -- approximately 99.79% of the time. "Nicely" is used about 956 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adverb (general) | 99.79% | 954 | 7,614 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.1% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Noun (common) | 0.1% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 956 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes the usage of "nicely" based on a population census conducted in the United States. Ranks and frequencies are based on all names reported and classified. |
| Name | Usage/Gender | Usage per 100 million Persons | Rank in USA |
| Nicely | Last name | 1,000 | 8,264 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits. | |||
Expressions using "nicely": do smb. up nicely ♦ go nicely ♦ nicely situated home. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "nicely": nicely-brought-up, nicely-made, nicely-painted, nicely-rounded, nicely-sized. | |
Ending with "nicely": dressed-nicely. | |
Containing "nicely": very-nicely-thank-you. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
nicely | 16 |
nailed nicely | 3 |
james nicely | 2 |
break nicely up | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "nicely"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | mirë (alright, decently, good, myrrh, nice, ok, okay, okey, securely, well), me mirësjellje (civilly, graciously, obligingly), bukur (beautiful, beautifully, capitally, fair, fine, handsome, lovely, prettily). (various references) | |
Arabic | على نحو أنيق, بالضبط (exactly, just so, precisely, properly, punctually), باحكام (closely, tight), باتقان (perfectly, skilfully, skillfully), برقة (airily, gently, piano, politely). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | хубаво (jolly, prettily, very well), точно (according to cocker, clean, correctly, directly, exactly, expressly, just, justly, narrowly, on schedule, precise, prompt, right, sharp, spang, strictly, textually, true, truly, whang), грижливо (choicely, thoroughly), внимателно (carefully, cautiously, close, closely, gently, guardedly, narrowly, steady, warily), мило (agreeably), любезно (agreeably, graciously, kindly, pleasantly, politely, well spoken), добре (all right, good, right, righto, well). (various references) | |
Chinese | 恰好 (Opportune), 好好 . (various references) | |
Czech | zdvořile (civilly, courteously, politely, respectfully), přesnì (accurately, bang, clearly, dead, exactly, faithfully, just, on the minute, on time, precisely, quite, rightly, sharp, straight), příjemnì (agreeably, pleasantly), hezky. (various references) | |
Finnish | hän menestyy hyvin (he is doing well, he is getting on nicely). (various references) | |
French | sagement, parfaitement, minutieusement, joliment, gentiment, exactement, bien (nice), agréablement. (various references) | |
German | nett (cute, cutely, fair, kind, kindly, lovely, natty, neat, neatly, nice, nice-looking, pleasant, prettily, pretty, tidy). (various references) | |
Greek | ωραία (fine, handsomely, nattily, prettily). (various references) | |
Hungarian | szabatosan (succinctly), pontosan (accurately, dead on, definitely, due, duly, even as, exactly, fine, in due course, just, minutely, on the beam, on the dot, on the minute, on the nose, on time, precisely, prompt, regularly, right, scrupulously, smack in the middle, strictly, that's just it, to spell out, to take key ranges, to the turn of a hair, true), nagyon jól (full well), jól (aright, fair, fine, have a good grip of the situation, have a good grip on the situation, light, on the beam, right, tiptop, to come through, to dress sy down good and proper, to give it sy, to give it to sy, to give sy beans, to send sy away with a flea in sy's ear, well). (various references) | |
Indonesian | bagus (bravo, lovely). (various references) | |
Italian | piacevolmente (agreeably, comfortably, pleasantly), gradevolmente, gentilmente (kindly), esattamente (carefully, correctly, exactly, just, just so, Plumb, precisely, quite, quite so, right, sharp, Square, true), ammodo (gently), amabilmente. (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 能く (being skilled in, properly, skillfully, thoroughly, well), 能 (being skilled in, function, gift, Noh play, properly, skillfully, talent, thoroughly, well), 良く (properly, skilled in, well), 正正と (accurately, exactly, neatly, punctually), 正々と (accurately, exactly, neatly, punctually), 旨旨と (successfully), 旨々と (successfully), したい気がする (feeling like doing, gently, God bless me!, Good heavens!, insistent, obstinate, softly, to a tee), まんざら夢ではない (artfully, fairly, not altogether a dream, successfully, thoroughly), 善く (properly, skilled in, well). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | しっくりと (to a tee), まんまと (artfully, fairly, successfully, thoroughly), うまうまと (successfully), せいせいと (accurately, exactly, neatly, punctually), よく (avarice, bath, being skilled in, craving, desire, greed, properly, skilled in, skillfully, thoroughly, wants, well). (various references) | |
Korean | 좋게 (Exceptionally). (various references) | |
Manx | dy mie (well), dy jesh (deftly, prettily, readily). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | icelynay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | satisfatoriamente (well), lindamente (prettily), bem (benefit, blessing, decently, draw-well, fortune, good, much, nice, now, OK, okay, property, quite, very, welfare, well, yes), agradavelmente (agreeable, agreeably, gratefully, kindly, pleasantly, prettily, sweetly). (various references) | |
Romanian | simpatic (attractive, attractively, congenial, inclination, ingratiating, kindly, likable, lovely, nice, pleasant, pleasing, prepossessing, pretty, shine, sympathetic), grozav (a, almighty, atrocious, awful, awfully, bally, beastly, bully, classy, clinking, Dandy, desperate, dreadful, exceedingly, excessively, famous, fell, first rate, formidable, frightful, gee, ghastly, grand, horrible, horrid, immense, immensely, jolly, killing, like blazes, like hell, lovely, mad, magnificent, mightily, nifty, plush, plushy, proper, ripping, some, stunning, swell, terrible, terribly, terrific, thundering, topping, tremendous, tremendously, uncommonly, vastly, whacking), frumos (artistic, artistical, beautiful, beautifully, bonny, brave, calm, canny, catchy, choice, clean, delicate, enjoyable, fair, fine, flowing, gay, generous, good, good looking, goodly, greatly, handsome, handsomely, lovely, merry, mild, neat, nice, personable, pretty, proper, settled, shapely, slowly, specious, well favored, well-favoured, well-featured). (various references) | |
Russian | хорошо (all right, allright, all-right, alright, al-right, fair enough, good, lockfast, ok, okay, okey, well, well-done). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | uljudno, ljubazno (amicably, genially, graciously, kindly, obligingly), lepo (beautifully, dress up, finely). (various references) | |
Spanish | con finura, bien (all right, alright, amply, benefit, decently, fine, good, nice, okay, prettily, properly, quite right, right, rightly, sake, thank you, tidily, true, welfare, well), amablemente (amiably, kindly, sweetly, thankfully), agradablemente (agreeably, pleasantly, pleasurably). (various references) | |
Swedish | fint (dodge, dummy, feint, fine, good show, good work, nice, stratagem, that's great). (various references) | |
Thai | อย่างดี. (various references) | |
Turkish | kibarca (aristocratically, civilly, gently, in style, mannerly, mildly, politely, sweetly), hoşça (beautifully, deliciously, pleasantly), hoş bir şekilde (agreeably, sweetly), hoş (affable, agreeable, beautiful, bonny, canny, charming, clean-cut, congenial, debonair, debonaire, delectable, delicious, delightful, desirable, elegant, enjoyable, fine, fragrant, handsome, jolly, kind, kindly, likable, likeable, lovable, lovely, nice, pleasant, pleasing, pleasurable, prettily, pretty, sapid, smart, smooth, suave, subtile, subtle, sweetly, tuneful, well, winning, winsome), güzelce (fair, fairly, in style, well), çok iyi (alpha plus, bang up, banner, bully, celestial, cool, elegant, great, hell of, highly, jolly good, no mean, roaring, some, that's cool, thumbs up, two thumbs up, very good, very well). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | уважно (closely, observantly, sharply, thoughtfully), якраз (even, even as, exactly, full, right, slap), саме так (exactly so), цілком (absolutely, all, all in all, all of, all out, altogether, at all, bodily, broad, clean, clear, completely, duly, en bloc, entirely, fairly, full, fully, hollow, outright, perfectly, pure, purely, quite, richly, soundly, thoroughly, well, wholly), файно, гарно (finely, good, goodly, prettily, well), відмінно (famously, perfectly, well), приємно (cosily, gracefully, gratefully, pleasantly, pleasurably), добре (all right, decently, familiarly, good, o.k., ok, okay, okey, okeydokey, right-ho, smoothly, well). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | thú vị (delectable, diverting, enjoyable, entertaining, merry, pleasant, pleasing, pleasurable, pretty, rorty), tế nhị (delicate, exquisite, kid glove, nice, witty), khảnh sành sỏi; tinh vi, khó tính (cantankerous, difficile, finical, finicking, finicky, finikin, miminy-piminy, perverse, select, unaccommodating), hay hay xinh tỉ mỉ, dễ chịu (agreeable, merry, pleasing, pleasurable, welcome), câu nệ (punctilious, tender). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Misspellings | |
"Nicely" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: ikely, nacel, napely, necel, Nesseby, Niccolin, nicel, nicell, nicey, nichely, nicl, nicle, Nicoli, Nicolli, nicols, nikel, Nikiya, Nikolic, nipely, Nissly, nitely, noely, nonely. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "nicely" (pronounced nī"slē) |
| 4 | -ī" s l ē | concisely, precisely. |
| 3 | -s l ē | adversely, aimlessly, ambitiously, anonymously, anxiously, assiduously, autonomously, breathlessly, callously, capriciously, carelessly, cautiously, ceaselessly, closely, conscientiously, consciously, conspicuously, contemporaneously, contemptuously, continuously, conversely, courageously, curiously, dangerously, deliciously, densely, disastrously, jealously, judiciously, laboriously, effortlessly, egregiously, endlessly, enormously, enviously, erroneously, expeditiously, expressly, fabulously, facetiously, fallaciously, falsely, famously, ferociously, fiercely, flawlessly, frivolously, fruitlessly, furiously, generously, gloriously, graciously, gratuitously, grievously, grossly, harmlessly, harmoniously, hellaciously, helplessly, hideously, hilariously, hopelessly, horrendously, humorously, immensely, incongruously, indigenously, ingeniously, instantaneously, intensely, intravenously, inversely, listlessly, loosely, ludicrously, maliciously, marvelously, mercilessly, meticulously, mindlessly, miraculously, mysteriously, needlessly, nervously, notoriously, obviously, ominously, ostentatiously, outrageously, painlessly, parsley, perilously, perversely, piously, posthumously, precariously, precipitously, previously, princely, prodigiously, profusely, purposely, recklessly, relentlessly, religiously, restlessly, ridiculously, righteously, rigorously, ruthlessly, scarcely, scrupulously, seamlessly, seriously, shamelessly, simultaneously, sparsely, spontaneously, strenuously, studiously, subconsciously, surreptitiously, suspiciously, synonymously, tediously, tenaciously, tensely, tersely, thusly, tirelessly, tremendously, tremulously, unambiguously, unanimously, unceremoniously, unconsciously, variously, vicariously, viciously, vigorously, vociferously, zealously. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "c-e-i-l-n-y" | |
-1 letter: cline, liney, yince. | |
-2 letters: ceil, cine, inly, lice, lien, line, liny, nice. | |
-3 letters: cel, ice, icy, lei, ley, lie, lin, lye, nil, yen, yin. | |
-4 letters: el, en, in, li, ne, ye. | |
| Words containing the letters "c-e-i-l-n-y" | |
+1 letter: glycine. | |
+2 letters: benzylic, calycine, cylinder, encyclic, glycerin, glycines, leniency, mycelian, myelinic, phenylic, polyenic, princely, saliency, syncline, unicycle. | |
+3 letters: anciently, certainly, citizenly, concisely, cylinders, encyclics, ethylenic, genically, glycerine, glycerins, inexactly, lackeying, lychnises, lysogenic, polygenic, recycling, sincerely, synclines, thylacine, unicycles, virulency. | |
+4 letters: accidently, acetylenic, anemically, axenically, becomingly, centrality, contritely, covetingly, cyclodiene, cylindered, ebulliency, encyclical, enticingly, ethnically, exactingly, excitingly, fetchingly, glycerines, inactively, inchoately, incisively, inclemency, incredibly, indecently, indelicacy, indirectly, infelicity, innocently, insecurely, insolvency, irenically, lacqueying, lectionary, menacingly, miscellany, noticeably, piercingly, resiliency, reticently, scenically, semicolony, thylacines. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Crosswords 3. Usage: Modern 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Photo Album 6. Images: Digital Art 7. Quotations: Non-fiction 8. Usage Frequency | 9. Names: Frequency 10. Expressions 11. Expressions: Internet 12. Translations: Modern | 13. Derivations 14. Rhymes 15. Anagrams 16. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
