What's the difference between nicety and polite?

Nicety


Definition:

  • (n.) The quality or state of being nice (in any of the senses of that word.).
  • (n.) Delicacy or exactness of perception; minuteness of observation or of discrimination; precision.
  • (n.) A delicate expression, act, mode of treatment, distinction, or the like; a minute distinction.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Post-match niceties: Dunne and Henry get to their feet, embrace and head for the dressing rooms.
  • (2) Leaders regularly cock a snook at democratic niceties in staying in power and many seem largely out of touch with their people's needs, behind their high walls and blue-light security cavalcades.
  • (3) 14 March Exhibition Joanna Hogg reunites with Tom Hiddleston to probe the niceties of middle class life once more.
  • (4) Pre-match niceties On ITV1, Andy Townsend gets the obligatory "they don't come any bigger than this" out of the way early doors, as 800 Turkish military cadets perform an opening ceremony that's so ripe for mockery it hurts.
  • (5) There is a simple fact that you appear to be overlooking: the other political conferences would have been targeted too but fell outside our scope because of the long-winded niceties of calling strikes.
  • (6) To complain that he isn't always polite feels irrelevant: Eisenberg seems to dwell on a different mental sphere, one far away from conventional niceties.
  • (7) Not long now: The teams are out, the pleasantries have been exchanged and the niceties are over.
  • (8) The issue is not just one of legal niceties about international humanitarian law played out in private, but moral issues about how civilian lives are protected in war.
  • (9) Events rather than legal and political niceties may now determine that outcome, with Greek banks believed unable to reopen without a fresh infusion of cash via the ECB.
  • (10) This constitutional nicety has, however, been buried by larger developments.
  • (11) He is anxious to observe every legal nicety to avoid giving News Corp or any other interested party grounds to appeal his decision when it is announced later this month.
  • (12) Referee: Eddy Maillet (Seychelles) Pre-match niceties: The teams emerge from the tunnel with Honduras midfielder Roger Espinoza having what seems like a very long, deep and meaningful chat with the young mascot whose hand he's holding.
  • (13) She was tempted, she reveals in the book, to ditch the title Hard Choices and rename the memoir The Scrunchie Chronicles , in reference to the stir she caused as secretary of state when she cast aside (female) diplomatic niceties and began to clip her hair back.
  • (14) Post-match niceties: With weeping Barcelona players strewn around the battlefield like corpses on the set of Braveheart and Inter's players celebrating wildly, Jose Mourinho sprints on to the pitch with one arm raised before giving it the full Messiah in the centre-circle.
  • (15) He was little concerned about nuances and utterly averse to becoming involved in organisational niceties.
  • (16) As Dennis Wilder, the top White House Asia adviser to George W Bush, put it : “Tillerson and the new press secretary are just not yet steeped in the arcane nature and legal niceties of the South China Sea issue.” Moreover, blockading the islands is not only “literally an act of war”, but “operationally almost impossible” an American South China Sea expert, who asked to remain anonymous because of the sensitivity of the situation, told me.
  • (17) But whatever is seething beneath the surface – guilt, jealousy or crime – the niceties of life must continue.
  • (18) I began my letter with the usual niceties: "I hope you're well and healthy and staying positive …" After that, it took me a while to think of what to say next.
  • (19) Irrespective of niceties of enzyme and organic acid biochemistry, the clinician must be aware of biotin-reversible regressive brain disease which may present before manifest metabolic acidosis.
  • (20) Well, yes, that is the law of our country, not however a nicety often afforded to the victims of his titles, and here I refer not only to hacking but the vituperative portrayal of weak and vulnerable members of our society, relentlessly attacked by Murdoch's ink jackals.

Polite


Definition:

  • (v.) Smooth; polished.
  • (v.) Smooth and refined in behavior or manners; well bred; courteous; complaisant; obliging; civil.
  • (v.) Characterized by refinement, or a high degree of finish; as, polite literature.
  • (v. t.) To polish; to refine; to render polite.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) "Zayani reportedly cited the political sensitivity of naturalising Sunni expatriates and wanted to avoid provoking the opposition," the embassy said.
  • (2) Then a handful of organisers took a major bet on the power of people – calling for the largest climate change mobilisation in history to kick-start political momentum.
  • (3) A diplomatic source said the killing appeared particularly unusual because of Farooq lack of recent political activity: "He was lying low in the past two years.
  • (4) As May delivered her statement in the chamber, police helicopters hovered overhead and a police cordon remained in place around Westminster, but MPs from across the political spectrum were determined to show that they were continuing with business as usual.
  • (5) Anytime they feel parts of the Basic Law are not up to their current standards of political correctness, they will change it and tell Hong Kong courts to obey.
  • (6) I hope this movement will continue and spread for it has within itself the power to stand up to fascism, be victorious in the face of extremism and say no to oppressive political powers everywhere.” Appearing via videolink from Tehran, and joined by London mayor Sadiq Khan and Palme d’Or winner Mike Leigh, Farhadi said: “We are all citizens of the world and I will endeavour to protect and spread this unity.” The London screening of The Salesman on Sunday evening wasintended to be a show of unity and strength against Trump’s travel ban, which attempted to block arrivals in the US from seven predominantly Muslim countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan, Somalia, Syria and Yemen.
  • (7) Migrant voters are almost as numerous as current Ukip supporters but they are widely overlooked and risk being increasingly disaffected by mainstream politics and the fierce rhetoric around immigration caused partly by the rise of Ukip,” said Robert Ford from Manchester University, the report’s co-author.
  • (8) "There is … a risk that the political, trade, and gas frictions with Russia could lead to strong deterioration in economic relations between the two countries, with a significant drop in Ukraine's exports to and imports from Russia.
  • (9) Faisal Abu Shahla, a senior official in Fatah, an organisation responsible for a good deal of repression of its own when it was in power, accuses Hamas of holding 700 political prisoners in Gaza as part of a broad campaign to suppress dissent.
  • (10) Keep it in the ground campaign Though they draw on completely different archives, leaked documents, and interviews with ex-employees, they reach the same damning conclusion: Exxon knew all that there was to know about climate change decades ago, and instead of alerting the rest of us denied the science and obstructed the politics of global warming.
  • (11) If Cory Bernardi wasn’t currently in a period of radio silence as he contemplates his immediate political future he’d be all over this too, mining the Trumpocalypse – or in our domestic context, mining the fertile political fault line where Coalition support intersects with One Nation support.
  • (12) But Howard added that it may take a while and he is not confident the political reality will change.
  • (13) The size of Florida makes the kind of face-to-face politics of the earlier contests impossible, requiring instead huge ad spending.
  • (14) Nor is this political fantasy: at the European elections in May, across 51 authorities in the north-west and north-east, Ukip finished ahead of Labour in 18 and as its main rival in 30.
  • (15) Speaking to pro-market thinktank Reform, Milburn called for “more competition” and said the shadow health team were making a “fundamental political misjudgment” by attempting to roll back policies he had overseen.
  • (16) Just before Christmas the independent Kerslake report severely criticised Birmingham city council for its dysfunctional politics and, in particular, its handling of the so-called Trojan Horse affair, in which school governors were said to have set out to bring about an Islamic agenda into the curriculum contents and the day-to-day running of some schools.
  • (17) Ukip and the Greens are beneficiaries of this new political reality – as, arguably, is the SNP as it prepares to invade Labour’s heartland in Scotland next May.
  • (18) To safeguard its long-time regional ally, Iran gave full political, economic and military backing to the embattled Syrian president.
  • (19) What’s needed is manifesto commitments from all the main political parties to improve the help single homeless people are legally entitled to.
  • (20) Cameron, who faces intense political pressure from the UK Independence party in the runup to the 2014 European parliamentary elections, believes voters will need to be consulted if the EU agrees a major treaty revision in the next few years.