Nice is a maligned word. Every teacher tells kids not to use it, so you tend to grow up with a paranoid dread of ever employing it. But it’s a nice word. I’m always grateful when someone says “have a nice day” to me, or “you like nice” (it actually happens sometimes!), and I feel good if I say something nice to a friend, or a stranger, or a nice thing happens. We all want niceness in our lives.

Nice is nice.

Nice means pleasing and agreeable, pleasant and attractive, courteous and polite, respectability. All things that make life better. And it’s a word we use a lot every day, like (I hope) please and thank you. No-one has ever complained that we say those too often!

Of course, you don’t want to overuse it in your writing, but you can use it. It’s colloquial, modern and meaningful. Leave it in your vocabulary.

But if you have nice appearing too often, here are 25 synonyms to choose from: agreeable, amiable, attractive, benign, charming, commendable, congenial, considerate, delightful, enjoyable, fair, favourable, friendly, genial, good, gracious, helpful, kind,  lovely, mega, personable, pleasant, pleasing, super, tasteful.