different between nice vs soft

English

Alternative forms

• nyc (non-standard)
• noice (slang)

Pronunciation

• enPR: n?s, IPA^(key): /na?s/
• Rhymes: -a?s

Etymology 1

From Middle English nyce, nice, nys, from Old French nice, niche, nisce (“simple, foolish, ignorant”), from Latin nescius (“ignorant, not knowing”); compare nescire (“to know not, be ignorant of”), from ne (“not”) + scire (“to know”).

Adjective

nice (comparative nicer, superlative nicest)

1. Pleasant, satisfactory. [from 18th c.]
   • 1998, Baha Men – “Who Let the Dogs Out?”

     When the party was nice, the party was jumpin' (Hey, Yippie, Yi, Yo)

   • 2008, Rachel Cooke, The Guardian, 20 Apr.:

     "What's difficult is when you think someone is saying something nice about you, but you're not quite sure."

2. Of a person: friendly, attractive. [from 18th c.]
3. Respectable; virtuous. [from 18th c.]

4. (with and) Shows that the given adjective is desirable, or acts as a mild intensifier; pleasantly, quite. [from 18th c.]
5. (obsolete) Silly, ignorant; foolish. [14th-17th c.]
6. (now rare) Particular in one's conduct; scrupulous, painstaking; choosy. [from 14th c.]
   • 1999, Joyce Crick, translating Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams, Oxford 2008, p.83:

     But if I dispense with the dreams of neurotics, my main material, I cannot be too nice [transl. wählerisch] in my dealings with the remainder.

7. (obsolete) Particular as regards rules or qualities; strict. [16th-19th c.]
   • 1818, Jane Austen, Persuasion, chapter 16:

     "Good company requires only birth, education and manners, and with regard to education is not very nice. Birth and good manners are essential."

8. Showing or requiring great precision or sensitive discernment; subtle. [from 16th c.]
   • 1914: Saki, Laura:

     "It's her own funeral, you know," said Sir Lulworth; "it's a nice point in etiquette how far one ought to show respect to one's own mortal remains."

   • 1974, Lawrence Durrell, Monsieur, Faber & Faber 1992, p.131:

     It would be a nice theological point to try and establish whether Ophis is Moslem or gnostic.

   • 2006, Clive James, North Face of Soho, Picador 2007, p.242:

     Why it should have attained such longevity is a nice question.

9. (obsolete) Easily injured; delicate; dainty.
10. (obsolete) Doubtful, as to the outcome; risky. [16th-19th c.]
    • 1822, T. Creevey, Reminiscences, 28 Jul.:

      It has been a damned nice thing - the nearest run thing you ever saw in your life.

Usage notes

Sometimes used sarcastically to mean the opposite or to connote excess:

• 1710, Jonathan Swift, The Examiner No. XIV

  I have strictly observed this rule, and my imagination this minute represents before me a certain great man famous for this talent, to the constant practice of which he owes his twenty years’ reputation of the most skilful head in England, for the management of nice affairs.

• 1930, H.M. Walker, The Laurel-Hardy Murder Case

  Here's another nice mess you've gotten us into.

• 1973, Cockerel Chorus, Nice One, Cyril!

  Nice one, Cyril!

Synonyms

• (easy to like: person): charming, delightful, friendly, kind, lovely, pleasant, sweet
• (easy to like: thing): charming, delightful, lovely, pleasant
• (having a pleasant taste or aroma): appetising/appetizing, delicious, moreish (informal), scrummy (slang), scrumptious (slang), tasty
• (subtle): fine, subtle

Antonyms

• (easy to like: person): horrible, horrid, nasty
• (easy to like: thing): horrible, horrid, nasty
• (having a pleasant taste or aroma): awful, disgusting, foul, horrible, horrid, nasty, nauseating, putrid, rancid, rank, sickening, distasteful, gross, unsatisfactory
• (respectable; virtuous): naughty

Derived terms

Related terms

• nicety

Translations

Descendants

• ? Dutch: nice
• ? German: nice
• ? Danish: nice
• ? Swedish: najs, nice
• ? Norwegian:
  • Norwegian Bokmål: nice

Adverb

nice (comparative nicer, superlative nicest)

1. (colloquial) Nicely.

Interjection

nice!

1. Used to signify a job well done.

2. Used to signify approval.

Translations

Noun

nice (uncountable)

1. niceness.

Etymology 2

Name of a Unix program used to invoke a script or program with a specified priority, with the implication that running at a lower priority is "nice" (kind, etc.) because it leaves more resources for others.

Verb

nice (third-person singular simple present nices, present participle nicing, simple past and past participle niced)

1. (transitive, computing, Unix) To run a process with a specified (usually lower) priority.

Derived terms

• renice

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• Ince, Niec, cien, cine, cine-, icen

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?n?t?s?]
• Rhymes: -?ts?
• Hyphenation: ni?ce

Noun

nice

1. dative/locative singular of nika

Anagrams

• Ince

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English nice.

Adjective

nice (used only predicatively, not comparable)

1. (slang) nice

French

Etymology

From Old French nice, inherited from Latin nescius.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nis/

Adjective

nice (plural nices)

1. (archaic) candid, naive

Derived terms

• nicet

Further reading

• “nice” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

German

Etymology

English nice

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /na??s/

Adjective

nice (comparative nicer, superlative am nicesten)

1. (colloquial) good, nice

Further reading

• “nice” in Duden online
• “nice” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Middle English

Adjective

nice

1. Alternative form of nyce

Turkish

Etymology 1

From Ottoman Turkish ????? (nice, “how much”), from Proto-Turkic *n??e, equative form of *n? (“what”). See ne (“what”), cognate to Karakhanid ????? (n???, “how much”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ni?d??e]

Adjective

nice (comparative daha nice, superlative en nice)

1. many

Synonyms

• çok

Etymology 2

Ultimately from Proto-Turkic *n?- (“interrogative archetype”).

Adverb

nice

1. (dialectal or poetic) how

Synonyms

• nas?l

English

Etymology

From Middle English softe, from Old English s?fte, alteration of earlier s?fte (“soft”), from Proto-West Germanic *samft? (“level, even, smooth, soft, gentle”) (compare *s?miz (“agreeable, fitting”)), from Proto-Indo-European *semptio-, *semtio-, from *sem- (“one, whole”). Cognate with West Frisian sêft (“gentle; soft”), Dutch zacht (“soft”), German Low German sacht (“soft”), German sanft (“soft, yielding”), Old Norse sœmr (“agreeable, fitting”), samr (“same”). More at seem, same.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: s?ft, IPA^(key): /s?ft/
  • (Conservative RP) IPA^(key): /s??ft/
• (General American) enPR: sôft, IPA^(key): /s?ft/
• (cot–caught merger, Canada) IPA^(key): /s?ft/, enPR: s?ft
• Rhymes: -?ft

Adjective

soft (comparative softer, superlative softest)

1. Easily giving way under pressure.

2. (of cloth or similar material) Smooth and flexible; not rough, rugged, or harsh.
3. (of a sound) Quiet.
4. Gentle.

   There was a soft breeze blowing.

   • c. 1533, William Tyndale, An exposicion upon of Mathew

     The meek or soft shall inherit the earth.

5. Expressing gentleness or tenderness; mild; conciliatory; courteous; kind.
   • 1815, William Wordsworth, To a Highland Girl

     A face with gladness overspread, / Soft smiles, by human kindness bred.

6. Gentle in action or motion; easy.
7. Weak in character; impressible.
   • 1665, Joseph Glanvill, Scepsis Scientifica

     The deceiver soon found this soft place of Adam's.

8. Requiring little or no effort; easy.
   • 1892, Robert Louis Stevenson, The Beach of Falesá

     Before that they had been a good deal on the move, trekking about after the white man, who was one of those rolling stones that keep going round after a soft job.

9. Not bright or intense.

10. Having a slight angle from straight.

11. (linguistics) Voiced; sonant.
    • 1954, J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings

      DH represents the voiced (soft) th of English these clothes.

12. (linguistics, rare) voiceless
13. (linguistics, Slavic languages) palatalized
14. (slang) Lacking strength or resolve; not tough, wimpy.

15. (of water) Low in dissolved calcium compounds.

16. (Britain, colloquial) Foolish.
    • 1621, Robert Burton, The Essential Anatomy of Melancholy

      He made soft fellows stark noddies, and such as were foolish quite mad.

17. (physics) Of a ferromagnetic material; a material that becomes essentially non-magnetic when an external magnetic field is removed, a material with a low magnetic coercivity. (compare hard)
18. (of a person) Physically or emotionally weak.
19. Incomplete, or temporary; not a full action.

20. (Britain, of a man) Effeminate.
    • 1650, Jeremy Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living

      A longing after sensual pleasures is a dissolution of the spirit of a man, and makes it loose, soft, and wandering.

21. Agreeable to the senses.
22. Not harsh or offensive to the sight; not glaring or jagged; pleasing to the eye.
    • 1673, Edward Browne, A Brief Account of some Travels in Hungaria, Styria, Bulgaria, Thessaly, Austria, Serbia, Carynthia, Carniola, and Friuli

      The sun, shining upon the upper part of the clouds […] made the softest lights imaginable.

23. (photography, of light) Made up of nonparallel rays, tending to wrap around a subject and produce diffuse shadows.
24. (computing) Emulated with software; not physically real.

25. (of a drug) Not likely to cause addiction.

Synonyms

• (giving way under pressure): see Thesaurus:soft
• (of a cloth): non-abrasive, fluffy
• (gentle): gentle, light, nesh
• (of a sound): quiet
• (lacking strength or resolve): meek, mild, wimpy, nesh
• (foolish): daft, foolish, silly, stupid

Antonyms

• (giving way under pressure): hard, resistant, solid, stony
• (of a cloth): abrasive, scratchy
• (gentle): harsh, rough, strong
• (acute): hard
• (of a sound): loud
• (lacking strength or resolve): firm, strict, tough
• (of water): hard
• (foolish): sensible

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• mollify

Interjection

soft

1. (archaic) Be quiet; hold; stop; not so fast.

Adverb

soft (comparative more soft, superlative most soft)

1. (obsolete) Softly; without roughness or harshness; gently; quietly.
   • There was a neat hat-and-umbrella stand, and the stranger's weary feet fell soft on a good, serviceable dark-red drugget, which matched in colour the flock-paper on the walls.

Noun

soft (plural softs)

1. A soft or foolish person; an idiot.
   • 1859, George Eliot, Adam Bede Part I, Chapter 9

     It'll do you no good to sit in a spring-cart o' your own, if you've got a soft to drive you: he'll soon turn you over into the ditch.

2. (motorsports) Ellipsis of soft tyre (A tyre whose compound is softer than mediums, and harder than supersofts.)
3. (colloquial) A soft sound or part of a sound.
   • 2012, Sam McGuire, Paul Lee, The Video Editor's Guide to Soundtrack Pro (page 103)

     The expander doesn't really make the louds louder and the softs softer in one step […]

Czech

Etymology

Borrowed from English soft(ware).

Noun

soft m

1. (colloquial) software, program
   • 18 March 1999, CD-R 74min X 80min, Group cz.comp.ibmpc:

     Zajimalo by mne, zda jsou tyto CD schopna pracovat na plnou kapacitu s normalnimi vypalovackami a beznym softem nebo je na ne potreba mit extra vypalovadlo i soft?

   • 19 March 2009, Zalohovaci SW, Group cz.talk:

     Pokud t?ch dat máte víc, pak tím TARem sta?í zálohovat základ systému a zbytek ?ešit zálohovacím softem, kterej umí d?lit archiv na n?kolik pásek.

   • 2 April 2010, gsm modul / telefon, Group cz.comp.linux:

     ma nekdo nejake zkusenosti s takovym zarizenim ci softem kterym to ovladat?

Declension

Further reading

• soft in Kartotéka Novo?eského lexikálního archivu
• soft in Slovník spisovného jazyka ?eského, 1960–1971, 1989

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English soft.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /s?ft/

Noun

soft m (plural softs)

1. (sexuality) soft porn
2. (computing, uncountable) Software.
3. (computing, countable) A piece of software.

Adjective

soft (plural softs)

1. softcore (pornography)

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English soft.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?s?ft/

Adjective

soft (invariable)

1. soft (tone etc; temporary (computing))

References

Polish

Etymology

Borrowed from English soft(ware).

Noun

soft m inan

1. (colloquial) software, program