nicety
/ˈnaɪsɪti/
nicety noun: a small detail or distinction.
Noun
nicety (countable and uncountable, plural niceties)
- A small detail or distinction.
- We met the new captain while we were taking enemy fire and were unable to observe the niceties of formal introductions.
- the fineness and niceties of words1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], chapter 3, in An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], →OCLC
- Subtlety or precision of use; exactness; preciseness.
- A rocket-propelled grenade doesn't have the nicety of a sniper round, but you must admit its effectiveness.
- Afterwards I took it back when it was borne in upon me startlingly with what extreme nicety he had estimated the time requisite for the ‘affair.’1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 212
- A delicacy of character or feeling usually from excessive refinement; fastidiousness.
- [I]f you knew how Selina feels with respect to sleeping at an inn, you would not wonder at Mrs. Churchill’s making incredible exertions to avoid it. Selina says it is quite horror to her—and I believe I have caught a little of her nicety.1815, Jane Austen, Emma, volume II, chapter 18
- Synonym of social nicety.
- To be sure, 2012 marks an emphatic end to the bygone courtesy of allowing the other campaign to have its convention moment. But the traditional nicety began unraveling at least two or three election cycles ago.2012 August 27, Alex Mooney, “No more niceness: Obama, Romney try to rain on each other’s parade”, in CNN
- “That was so lovely. But how come none of you ever said any of this to me?” “Because we're vampires, my squeaky-voiced, fucking berserk, nutjob, idiot friend. And sometimes we're not too good with the old niceties and kindness towards those we care about. But our hearts... are full of love.” “He's...2023 August 31, William Meny & Paul Simms, “A Weekend at Morrigan Manor” (23:20 from the start), in What We Do in the Shadows, season 5, episode 9, spoken by Laszlo Cravensworth (Matt Berry)
- Synonyms:
- social nicety
- That which is delicate to the taste.
Adjective
nicety
- Behaving in an unpleasant or spiteful way that is seemingly, or perceived as, pleasant or agreeable.
- Now, believe me, I know just how tempting it is to come back with a snarky reply in the comments of these videos. I've done it here and there just to scratch the itch. It's because I've had a lot of training on how to be nicety. It was a survival tactic at Tesla. It has literally become an...2025 April 14, Keena Blum, “What comes to your mind when you see these people?”, in things your mom should've told you (YouTube)
nicety meaning in Urdu, Bengali, Telugu and Malayalam
nicety in Urdu
- باریکی, لطیف امتیاز, نازک فرق, نزاکت
nicety in Bengali
- সূক্ষ্মতা, সূক্ষ্ম ভেদাভেদ, নির্ভুলভাবে
nicety in Telugu
- a nicety
- కిటుకు kiṭuku
nicety in Malayalam
- അഴക്, നല്ല സ്വാദുളള സാധനം, പലഹാരം, നേർമ്മ, ലാളിത്യം
More languagesFewer languages
- nicety in Kannada
- ಸೂಕ್ಷ್ಮತೆ, ಸೂಕ್ಷ್ಮಾಂಶ, ಅತಿಸೂಕ್ಷ್ಮತೆ, ಜಟಿಲತೆ
Examples of nicety in a sentence
- Beattie, adds, "this is a needless nicety, and, if adopted, would introduce a confusion into the grammatical art. {...}"1872, Richard Grant White, Words and Their Uses, Past and Present, page 326:
- [W]e cannot judge with exact nicety whether the hunter or the hunted has the greater dash of toe.1934, Henry G. Lamond, An Aviary On The Plains, page 210:
- It's because I've had a lot of training on how to be nicety.2025 April 14, Keena Blum, “What comes to your mind when you see these people?”, in things your mom should've told you (YouTube):
Synonyms of nicety
Forms of nicety
| plural | niceties |
|---|
Origin of nicety
From Middle English nicetee, from Old French niceté (“simpleness, foolishness”), from nice (“simple, foolish”); equivalent to nice + -e- + -ty.
Words formed from nicety
Questions about nicety
- What does nicety mean?
- Nicety means a small detail or distinction.
- What is nicety in Urdu?
- Nicety in Urdu is باریکی, لطیف امتیاز, نازک فرق. See Nicety meaning in Urdu.
- How do you use nicety in a sentence?
- Beattie, adds, "this is a needless nicety, and, if adopted, would introduce a confusion into the grammatical art. {...}"
- What part of speech is nicety?
- Nicety can be a noun or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce nicety?
- Nicety is pronounced /ˈnaɪsɪti/.
- What is the plural of nicety?
- The plural of nicety is niceties.
Words near nicety in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: nicety (page history and authors); nicety (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); nicety (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); కిటుకు (Telugu) (page history and authors); nicety (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); nicety (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-nicety.oga.
Cite this entry: “nicety.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/nicety. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.