different between amicable vs nicely

English

Etymology

From Late Latin am?c?bilis (“friendly”); see amiable.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?æ.m?.k?.b?l/

Adjective

amicable (comparative more amicable, superlative most amicable)

1. Showing friendliness or goodwill.

   They hoped to reach an amicable agreement.

   He was an amicable fellow with an easy smile.

Usage notes

Amicable is particularly used of relationships or agreements (especially legal proceedings, such as divorce), with meaning ranging from simply “not quarrelsome, mutually consenting” to “quite friendly”. By contrast, the similar term amiable is especially used to mean “pleasant, lovable”, such as an “amiable smile”.

Derived terms

Related terms

• amiable
• amity

Translations

References

Further reading

• amicable in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• amicable in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• amicable at OneLook Dictionary Search

English

Etymology

From nice +? -ly.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?n??sli/

Adverb

nicely (comparative nicelier or more nicely, superlative niceliest or most nicely)

1. (obsolete) Fastidiously; carefully. [16th-18th c.]
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.xii:

     He lookt askew with his mistrustfull eyes, / And nicely trode, as thornes lay in his way, / Or that the flore to shrinke he did auyse [...].

2. Precisely; with fine discernment or judgement. [from 17th c.]
   • 1926, Ford Madox Ford, A Man Could Stand Up—, Penguin 2012 (Parade's End), p. 580:

     An army – especially in peace time – is a very complex and nicely adjusted affair […].

   • 2011, Thomas Penn, Winter King, Penguin 2012, p. 59:

     Henry's carefully calibrated public appearances would present him as the wellspring of honour, justice and power, the unknowable, all-seeing sovereign who, as the Milanese ambassador Soncino nicely observed, appeared in public ‘like one at the top of a tower looking on at what is passing in the plain’.

3. Pleasantly; satisfactorily. [from 18th c.]

Translations

Anagrams

• lycine