adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a good/fair/nice size (= fairly big )
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The garden is a good size.
a good/nice Christmas
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Did you have a good Christmas?
a nice gesture
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It would be a nice gesture if we gave them something to say 'thank you'.
a nice talk
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We all had lunch together and a nice talk.
a nice touch
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There was a vase of flowers in the room, which was a nice touch .
a nice try (= a good try that is not successful )
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Nice try, Claudia, but not good enough, I’m afraid.
a nice/good guy
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People say he’s a nice guy.
a nice/lovely/happy day (= enjoyable )
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We’ve had a lovely day at the beach.
a nice/pleasant/lovely surprise
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It’s a lovely surprise to see you.
good/nice/lovely (= not wet )
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We’ll go out if the weather is good.
have a good/nice etc birthday
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Did you have a nice birthday?
have a nice/good day! spoken (= used when saying goodbye to someone in a friendly way )
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Bye Sam! Have a good day!
have a nice/pleasant etc stay
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We hope you have a pleasant stay.
how much better/nicer/easier etc
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I was surprised to see how much better she was looking.
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How much better life would be if we returned to the values of the past!
(it was) nice meeting you (= used to say goodbye politely to someone you have just met for the first time )
nice and clean (= clean )
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Their job is to keep the streets nice and clean.
nice and quiet
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I’d love to go on holiday somewhere where it’s nice and quiet .
nice little
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It could be a nice little business.
nice manners (= good manners )
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She has such nice manners.
nice neat
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She arranged the books in a nice neat pile.
nice/pleasant/lovely
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There was a lovely smell of fresh coffee.
nice/pleased to meet you (= used to greet someone politely when you have just met them for the first time )
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‘This is my niece, Sarah.’ ‘Pleased to meet you.’
smell good/nice etc
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The food smelled good.
taste good/nice/delicious/great
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The apples weren’t very big but they tasted good.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
how
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The watchman looked at me expectantly so of course I had to say how nice it was and also donate five rupees.
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You know, I never realized until now just how nice it was.
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Instead, I just told him how nice his property was.
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When a child is compassionate, say how nice it is to see that.
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Selfridges opening Sunday HOW nice it was to see Selfridges open on Sunday.
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Had my father at last come to realize how nice it was to have our own place?
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Come in, Mr Willoughby. How nice .
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She had forgotten how nice it was, after so long an interval.
much
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He had thought about sending her to the oculist and he was much nicer to Gran.
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This is a much nicer schedule.
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It'd be much nicer if we were in the position where we could write love songs.
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Delays of a couple of months in the schedule, but made it up by mid-August. Much nicer quarters and location.
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Everywhere, too, customers were finding much nicer things to eat.
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He looked a different person then, and Mary thought how much nicer people looked when they smiled.
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It was so much nicer than having to wait in line.
quite
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It's quite nice because the people at the classes come to hear the music as well as to keep fit.
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And Main Street really has gotten quite nice .
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He is quite nice , really.
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The Chief Constable had been quite nice , Kate conceded.
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And you've got quite nice hair.
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Insufficient support is provided for both keyboard and keypad which sag under pressure but the key actions are quite nice .
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Girls are horrid, girls are quite nice , I like myself best.
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The trem arm is all of an inch longer than those of late, which is actually quite nice .
rather
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A rather nice house on the outskirts; just mention my name.
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It was rather nice being ill - he could get away with not clearing up his dishes.
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It was rather nice to have a woman crying over him.
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But after slaving over something for ten years, it is rather nice to show it off a bit.
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There's also a few backgrounds thrown in too and some rather nice fonts.
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All her furniture is second-hand and rather nice .
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In fact it was rather nice .
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And she was rather nice to me in her glittery at-home sort of way.
really
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It sounds really nice , the music they're making - it's all loud and echoey.
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Michael Coles is a really nice guy.
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He was really nice when we met him, he lives a life of total pleasure.
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It gives me a really nice sleep.
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I had one really nice job, playing with a kid called Mike.
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He has moved into a new office in the Rayburn Building, one of the really nice second-floor ones overlooking the Capitol.
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It was nice - oooh, really nice.
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That was really nice of you to come see me at the hospital.
so
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I mean Micky just seemed so nice , so friendly and, in a strange way, so lonely.
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But last night, after he returned, he was so nice to me!
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I remember cos it looked so nice .
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It was so nice to have that sort of freedom, which is basically what happened.
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The owner's so nice , another widow.
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She smiled so nice at him, waiting.
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And he looked so nice in his parka.
too
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She thought it was all getting too nice and intimate.
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William F.. Weld, insiders worry that Payne may be too nice .
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They were both too nice for their own good.
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I guess he saw me as too nice a guy, with too much money.
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He was nice , Emily decided, too nice by far for a hussy like Sarah.
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It was too nice a day to be burying a young life.
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That Tom was too nice for his own good.
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His father was too nice and too charitable.
very
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He had white hair and looked very nice , and soon they were waving to him every morning.
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Catera is a very nice package.
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U is under the tree, in the shade, under which it is very nice to sit.
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This kid had, at fifteen, two girlfriends, four children, a Mercedes-Benz, and some very nice clothes.
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I shall vote Tory because Mr Major is a very , very nice man.
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Still, she was very nice .
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There was a very nice housemaid when I first went.
■ NOUN
cup
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She'd have liked a nice cup of milky tea.
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The memories crowded in around me as I sat with a nice cup of steaming hot water, writing in longhand.
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You could drink a nice cup of tea, couldn't you?
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Or, at least to serve you a yogurt fruit shake and a nice cup of cinnamon-spice tea.
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I always hang up promptly and go out for a nice cup of coffee to cheer myself up.
day
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Timothy Gedge smiled at the men and said it was a nice day .
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You may want to do this outside on a nice day .
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It was in fact rather a nice day and my spirits were starting to rise.
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Millions of visitors have had a nice day out and spent a lot of money.
girl
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There are some nice girls out there, but I don't know what she was called.
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He needed some nice girl of Anthony's age to prove his point.
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She was a nice girl , but she was involved in gangs.
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Some nice girls do, some nice girls don't.
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I asked the information desk - a nice girl , pretty, very helpful - if the train to Oxford was modernized.
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But the message is that there must be a better way of choosing a nice girl than this.
guy
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Andrew is a nice guy , but he has the brain of a husk.
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Michael Coles is a really nice guy .
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It seems pretty convincing that nice guys do well in this game.
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I was in a soap opera for a while where I was the nicest guy in the world.
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He's such a nice guy .
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There would be nothing remaining but a bunch of nice guys .
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Marry Will-he's a really nice guy and then we can be sisters.
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Bob Dole and Jack Kemp seem like nice guys .
house
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A rather nice house on the outskirts; just mention my name.
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And nice houses , if I remember rightly.
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Had a nice house by a lake and had matching cars and everything?
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For their freedom, their nice houses .
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You going to a nice house .
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I have an estate in Arizona outside Phoenix with forty acres of land and a nice house .
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I get up every day thankful that I have a job and kids and a nice house .
idea
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We thought it would be a nice idea .
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It was a nice idea and had some basis in reality, however wrong it proved to be in the end.
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These are nice ideas , sure enough.
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Also, identification of tunes is a nice idea for such a concert.
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Price £2.85 3D Interior backgrounds A nice idea that really needs some fishkeeping skill to get the best out of.
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Mr Zed is a nice idea in need of material.
man
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I shall vote Tory because Mr Major is a very, very nice man .
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They were nice men but incomplete, or too complete.
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He was such a nice man , very quiet and reserved.
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Fox was a nice man , much liked among a wide circle of his fellow-clergy.
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Actually he was a very nice man , cheerful and good-natured, but the other side of him blotted it all out.
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He's a nicer man than Malcolm - stupid Malcolm whom I'd hoped to marry before he became besotted with Doreen.
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He's such a nice man , I could imagine him getting unwittingly manipulated into a situation like that.
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I expect he's a perfectly nice man .
people
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It's not our business if the people who hire us aren't nice people.
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Now Lute has suffered a loss beyond words and Tucson is diminished by the passing of one of its nicer people .
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Pop stars are far nicer people than rock stars.
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Some of them were nice people but few had any kind of apparent qualification.
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He looked a different person then, and Mary thought how much nicer people looked when they smiled.
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They were nice people and all, but you know what I mean.
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All these nice people wanting you to join things.
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I was not aware I would meet such nice people .
person
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They might be the nicest person , but prison has made me that way.
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But in being assertive, she is no less a nice person .
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She has a good sense of humour, and very sporting: in other words a very nice person .
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Sophia Loren is a nice person .
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It works because companies would sooner pay a nice person they know than a computer.
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But Angel, though not viciously evil, is not a nice person .
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I am a good citizen, a nice person .
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He was probably the most likable, nice person in the world.
place
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It is the nicest place in the house, thirty feet above the garden.
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Is it a nice place , can I come visit?
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A lot of people consider London to be big and ugly, and not a very nice place to live.
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Despite these frustrations, San Diego still is second on Anders' list of nice places to live.
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The group is made up of residents determined to make Heighington a nicer place to live.
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This would be a nice place to come if we just wanted to have a one-on-one chat.
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There's a nice place down the road.
surprise
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On the other, it's full of not so nice surprises .
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What followed was a nice surprise .
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It was not the best car I've driven this year, but it was the biggest and nicest surprise .
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That would be a nice surprise .
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I might just do that; it would give him a nice surprise .
thing
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That was the nice thing about the horses' strange stable: its cathedral-like aloofness from the weather.
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I can not say enough nice things about Chandra.
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Everywhere, too, customers were finding much nicer things to eat.
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After that, Simon did not try to think of any more nice things about Tony Angotti.
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That was another nice thing about friendship, wasn't it?
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All those nice things you sent me.
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The nice thing about volatility is that it leaves hope for all the candidates going into Iowa on Feb. 12.
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Besides, loving children says nice things about you, too, as a caring and decent person.
things
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Everywhere, too, customers were finding much nicer things to eat.
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And Paterno is already getting nervous about all the nice things that people are saying about his football team.
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What Amis has also acknowledged as a writer is that nice things aren't necessarily as funny as nasty things.
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I can not say enough nice things about Chandra.
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Me: I could eat anything, but I keep thinking of nice things .
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After that, Simon did not try to think of any more nice things about Tony Angotti.
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He said nice things about the children - how brave and clever they were - and then he sat down.
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A.. One of the nice things about running for chairman is the people who ran against me were fine people.
time
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He said he hoped we were having a nice time and could we leave the keys with Mrs Stewart please.
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He wanted to stay; he was having a nice time .
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Had quite a nice time , I gather.
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It was not a nice time .
touch
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One nice touch lets you italicize and embolden text simply by highlighting it and clicking on one of the toolbox icons.
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A little maple syrup, however, adds a nice touch .
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I always think it was a nice touch .
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This aesthetic presentation is a very nice touch in a meal already replete with interesting tastes dancing merrily across your palate.
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A nice touch is that when you make a new entry in the database, it's saved automatically.
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Pros: Ducking in and out of ice caves adds a nice touch to what could have been a typical roller coaster.
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Leeds began brightly and there were some nice touches .
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He had a nice touch , a good sense of how to execute his shots.
way
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He'd fallen in love with a pretty girl who had nice ways and was sweet to kiss and cuddle.
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I try to think of nice ways to comment on his appearance without saying he looks like shit.
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His nice way with words made me open my mouth.
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Stick your men on to these youngsters in a nice way , old fellow.
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She says that it's a nice way to view Cheltenham.
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He meant this in a nice way , but I felt weird.
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The country was in a mess; that's a nice way of putting some really bad news.
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Despite my first impression, Gus had a nice way about him.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
I couldn't wish for a nicer/better etc ...
a nice little earner
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Bethlehem will always be a nice little earner .
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However worthy his motives, the good doctor is on a nice little earner .
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It has become, let's face it, a nice little earner .
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Some of the nurses found it a nice little earner on top of their poor weekly pay.
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That would be a nice little earner for us.
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With an eye for a nice little earner , Del Trotter dictated his letter of application to chief sports writer Roy Collins.
as nice/as stupid etc as they come
ever so cold/wet/nice etc
nice work/quick work
no more Mr Nice Guy!
sb doesn't do nice/funny/sensible etc
the biggest/best/nicest etc sth going
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A few hundred metres off-shore we congregate so that Tor can explain the best way of going ashore.
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Are the best bargains going to petrol buyers?
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But in those years, they were always the team with the best record going into the playoffs.
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Its got to be the best ticket office going .
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Perhaps the biggest thing going was the harp played by JoAnn Turovsky, sounding positively, well, huge.
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There was a wide range of scores with the best individual score going to George McCallum of Douglas Reyburn with 37 points.
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This, so I was led to believe, was the best it was going to get.
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What is the best way of going forward? - Ideas from within I hear you say!
too nice/clever etc for your own good
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According to her, he was too clever for his own good.
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That Tom was too nice for his own good.
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They were both too nice for their own good.
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You might be just a wee bit too clever for your own good now.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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"Let's take a picnic lunch with us." "Yeah, that'd be nice ."
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"She offered to pay for everything." "That was a nice gesture."
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All Brad's friends were very nice to me, but I was too shy to join in their chat.
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Claire's really nice , isn't she?
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Come over on Saturday. It would be nice to see you.
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Did you have a nice time?
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Feel this material. It's so nice and soft.
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Have a nice day.
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He's one of the nicest people I know.
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He had a lot of nice things to say about you.
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I've got a nice boss, and the pay's good.
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I got a nice long letter from Andreas this morning.
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I hope you have a nice vacation.
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I sometimes think she's only nice to me when she wants something.
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I want a nice hot shower.
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It's so nice to see you again.
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It's the kind of place nice people don't go to.
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It was nice of them to invite us.
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Morning, Bill. Nice weather, isn't it?
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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He came and helped me lay it all in which was very nice .
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I cleaned up the house as best I could, and hired a couple of nice ladies to handle the heavy lifting.
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It would be nice to think that it was a very prosperous affair.
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Maybe Henry would realize she was not as nice as she pretended to be.
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Moza was making nice , asking about dinner.
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No, it's not nice .
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There's this one with candles on the table in these little glass bowls, and it all looks cosy and nice .