different between nicely vs fretful

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

English

Alternative forms

• fretfull (archaic)

Etymology

fret +? -ful

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?f??tf?l/

Adjective

fretful (comparative more fretful, superlative most fretful)

1. Irritable, bad-tempered, grumpy or peevish.
   • 1909: Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

     It was another cry, but not quite like the one she had heard last night; it was only a short one, a fretful, childish whine muffled by passing through walls.

2. Unable to relax; fidgety or restless.

Derived terms

• fretfully
• fretfulness
• unfretful

Translations

Anagrams

• truffle