nice thing
89
1.0
- noun
:
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- After winning the contest, she received a nice thing that she had always wanted: a new bicycle.
- one nice thing
This is why we can't have nice things in this house.
- This is why we can't have nice things in this house.
- You know, I still had nice things, you know, I didn't go without.
- Which clearly they like nice things and they like to do nice things.
- Oh my gosh, that's like the nicest thing ever and it's so well done.
Examples
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Well, I found a couple nice things, but nothing like crazy.
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But it was a nice thing to feel nonetheless.
Academic text (2007) -
It's hard for me to hear nice things about myself.
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It's a nice thing to have.
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What a nice thing to say.
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"Your father had nothing but nice things to say about you."
Fiction book (1992) -
You have to go to college and make a good living if you want nice things.
Fiction book (2000) -
When a person does nice things for their partner, they both get filled up.
Blog text (19) -
That's the first nice thing to happen here, in days.
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One nice thing about student-designed and made projects is that they can be brought home.
Academic text (2014)
Synonyms
44
2.8
Things worth a lot of money, like jewelry or important papers
22
4.1
A thing people collect because it is interesting or valuable, like cards
11
5.4
An object that people want to keep because it is rare and valuable
4
1.6
A small treat given to enjoy or as a reward
1
3.0
Something people keep safe because it is worth money or has special meaning
Antonyms
How Desirable
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly and transparently derived from combining 'nice' (pleasant, attractive) with 'thing' (an object or act), so a learner can infer 'a pleasant/valuable item' or in context 'a kind action'. This is a straightforward adjective + noun composition found cross-linguistically, making it immediately comprehensible to a B1 learner who knows both constituents.
Etymology
Nice thing comes from the simple image of someone pointing at an attractive object and calling it nice, while thing just means an object. A nice thing is an object that looks good or feels special, so it means 'pleasing to own'.