Synonyms for overnice
Grammar : Adj |
Spell : nahys |
Phonetic Transcription : naɪs |
Top 10 synonyms for overnice Other synonyms for the word overnice
- academic
- affected
- alembicated
- arid
- artful
- artificial
- austere
- bigoted
- bookish
- captious
- chichi
- choosy
- conventional
- critical
- dainty
- delicate
- demanding
- demure
- didactic
- difficult
- doctrinaire
- donnish
- dry
- dull
- easily disgusted
- egotistic
- epicene
- erudite
- fastidious
- finical
- finicking
- finicky
- formal
- formalistic
- fragile
- fussbudget
- fussbudgety
- fussy
- genteel
- goody-goody
- goody-two-shoes
- hairsplitting
- hard to please
- hypercritical
- illiberal
- inkhorn
- la-di-da
- learned
- literary
- mincing
- narrow
- nice
- nit-picking
- nit-picky
- offish
- ostentatious
- overdelicate
- overexact
- overmodest
- overnice
- overrefined
- pansified
- particular
- pedagogic
- pedantical
- persnickety
- picky
- precieux
- precious
- precise
- pretentious
- priggish
- prim
- prim and proper
- proper
- punctilious
- puritanical
- queasy
- refined
- rigid
- rigorous
- scholastic
- schoolish
- scrupulous
- sententious
- severe
- showy
- simpering
- sissified
- sissy
- square
- stagy
- starchy
- stern
- stickling
- stiff
- strait-laced
- straitlaced
- studied
- stuffy
- tight-laced
- Victorian
Définition of overnice
Origin :- late 13c., "foolish, stupid, senseless," from Old French nice (12c.) "careless, clumsy; weak; poor, needy; simple, stupid, silly, foolish," from Latin nescius "ignorant, unaware," literally "not-knowing," from ne- "not" (see un-) + stem of scire "to know" (see science). "The sense development has been extraordinary, even for an adj." [Weekley] -- from "timid" (pre-1300); to "fussy, fastidious" (late 14c.); to "dainty, delicate" (c.1400); to "precise, careful" (1500s, preserved in such terms as a nice distinction and nice and early); to "agreeable, delightful" (1769); to "kind, thoughtful" (1830).
- "In many examples from the 16th and 17th centuries it is difficult to say in what particular sense the writer intended it to be taken." [OED]
- By 1926, it was pronounced "too great a favorite with the ladies, who have charmed out of it all its individuality and converted it into a mere diffuser of vague and mild agreeableness." [Fowler]
- "I am sure," cried Catherine, "I did not mean to say anything wrong; but it is a nice book, and why should I not call it so?""Very true," said Henry, "and this is a very nice day, and we are taking a very nice walk; and you are two very nice young ladies. Oh! It is a very nice word indeed! It does for everything." [Jane Austen, "Northanger Abbey," 1803]
- As in pedantic : adj bookish, precise
- As in precious : adj extremely sophisticated and picky
- As in prissy : adj particular and fussy
- As in prudish : adj shy and strict in behavior
- As in inkhorn : adj pedantic
- As in pedantical : adj pedantic
- As in fastidious : adj very careful, meticulous
- As in finicky : adj overparticular
- What was she trying to say with her dark hints and overnice scruples of a Puritan conscience?
- Extract from : « Heralds of Empire » by Agnes C. Laut
Antonyms for overnice
Based on : Thesaurus.com - Gutenberg.org - Dictionary.com - Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019