| / English Dictionary |
NICHE
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
An enclosure that is set back or indented
Synonyms:
niche; recess
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("niche" is a kind of...):
enclosure (a structure consisting of an area that has been enclosed for some purpose)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "niche"):
alcove; bay (a small recess opening off a larger room)
apse; apsis (a domed or vaulted recess or projection on a building especially the east end of a church; usually contains the altar)
cinerarium; columbarium (a niche for a funeral urn containing the ashes of the cremated dead)
fireplace; hearth; open fireplace (an open recess in a wall at the base of a chimney where a fire can be built)
mihrab ((Islam) a niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the direction of Mecca)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A small concavity
Synonyms:
corner; niche; recess; recession
Classified under:
Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes
Hypernyms ("niche" is a kind of...):
concave shape; concavity; incurvation; incurvature (a shape that curves or bends inward)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "niche"):
pharyngeal recess (a small recess in the wall of the pharynx)
Sense 3
Meaning:
(ecology) the status of an organism within its environment and community (affecting its survival as a species)
Synonyms:
ecological niche; niche
Classified under:
Nouns denoting stable states of affairs
Hypernyms ("niche" is a kind of...):
condition; status (a state at a particular time)
Domain category:
bionomics; ecology; environmental science (the branch of biology concerned with the relations between organisms and their environment)
Sense 4
Meaning:
A position particularly well suited to the person who occupies it
Example:
he found his niche in the academic world
Classified under:
Nouns denoting stable states of affairs
Hypernyms ("niche" is a kind of...):
place; station (proper or designated social situation)
II. (verb)
Sense 1
Present simple (first person singular and plural, second person singular and plural, third person plural) of the verb niche
Context examples:
But the slow-motion lifestyle of tree sloths, according to a new study, is a direct result of the animals' adaptation to their arboreal niche.
(Putting the sloth in sloths: Arboreal lifestyle drives slow pace, NSF)
Mary had a milder and more open countenance than Blanche; softer features too, and a skin some shades fairer (Miss Ingram was dark as a Spaniard)—but Mary was deficient in life: her face lacked expression, her eye lustre; she had nothing to say, and having once taken her seat, remained fixed like a statue in its niche.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
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