Meaning Of Idiom ‘Make Nice’
To make nice means to behave in a friendly, kind, or polite way to a person even though you do not want to; to pretend to be friendly or polite in order to make a situation less negative; to behave well and not let one’s animosity show; to be insincerely kind and polite. 1Ammer, Christine. American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013.,2Definition of make nice from the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press
To ‘make nice’ is similar to get along. ‘Get along,’ however, usually refers to a genuine ability to see eye to eye. People who get get along exceptionally well might be said to be thick as thieves.
Sentence Examples
“You both need to just make nice and get the job done. You can argue on your own time.”
“Can you make nice with your sister during the trip? I really want this vacation to be peaceful.”
“I spent Thanksgiving making nice with the in-laws while her mother criticized everything I did.”
“You were, oh, just making all nice. And the whole time, you’re just lying, lying, lying to me.” — The Mentalist: White as the Driven Snow (2014)
“Please please– can’t you just make nice with barb?” — Big Love: Blood Atonement (2010)
Origin
Used since the mid-1900s.
This idiom could be a contraction of ‘make nice conversation’ or a similar phrase. It was used as early as 1957 in West Side Story:
“You’re gonna make nice with the PRs [Puerto Ricans] from now on…” 3Ammer, Christine. The Dictionary of Cliches: a Word Lover’s Guide to 4,000 Overused Phrases and Almost-Pleasing Platitudes. Skyhorse Publishing, 2014.
