nice guy

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

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Noun

nice guy (plural nice guys)

1. (idiomatic, euphemistic) An inoffensive adult male who desires romantic companionship but who is too bland and uninspiring to be attractive.
   • 1999, The 'Nice Guy' Syndrome, Self-Help Informational Resources, The Counseling Center for Human Development, The University of South Florida [1]

     The nice guy, they say, finishes last. But in romantic relationships, the nice guy often isn't even in the running. […] The nice guy may have expressed an interest in dating you[...]. The nice guy is the person who you trust and feel comfortable with, but don't see as "fun" or "challenging" or really all that "interesting," other than as a friend, of course.

   • 2002 May 3, Cecelia Goodnow, “What's wrong with being a nice guy? Plenty, according to a local therapist”, in Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

     "My frustrations were pretty typical Nice Guy relationship issues," he says. "Not feeling appreciated, not feeling sexually desired by my wife. I didn't feel like...I received as much as I gave."

   • 2005 September 18, "Dirty D.", Lost Romanticism and the Manwhore, DiaryLand, at uberfrau.diaryland.com

     Nice guys are historically the grail of dating. […] As both Nora and I reminisced and compared how we were treated by the manwhore and by the nice guy, the manwhore always won out.

2. (Internet slang, sarcastic, derogatory) A man who pretends to be kind and polite with the goal of attracting women, often becoming hostile and misogynistic when their advances are rebuffed; someone affected by nice guy syndrome.
   • 2016 March 12, Suzannah Weiss, “5 Signs Of Nice Guy Syndrome”, in Bustle‎^[2]:

     Plenty of men will treat women kindly, but Nice Guys like to think that behaving kindly earns them a gold star. It doesn't.

3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see nice,‎ guy.

Derived terms

Terms derived from nice guy

• nice guys finish last
• nice guy syndrome
• no more Mr Nice Guy

Translations

man who is unappealing to women

• French: nice guy (fr) m
• Japanese: いい人 (いい ひと, ii hito)

See also

• bad boy
• friend zone