niche
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About Our Definitions: All forms of a word (noun, verb, etc.) are now displayed on one page.1niche
noun \ˈnich also ˈnēsh or ˈnish\Definition of NICHE
1
a : a recess in a wall especially for a statue b : something (as a sheltered or private space) that resembles a recess in a wall
2
a : a place, employment, status, or activity for which a person or thing is best fitted <finally found her niche> b : a habitat supplying the factors necessary for the existence of an organism or species c : the ecological role of an organism in a community especially in regard to food consumption d : a specialized market
See Examples of NICHE
- I found a niche for myself after high school.
- She finally found her niche as a teacher.
- the species that fill an environmental niche
- To succeed in this new world, you have to sell yourself. You go to a brand-name college, not to imbibe the wisdom of its professors, but to make impressions and connections. You pick a niche that can bring attention to yourself and then develop your personal public relations efforts to let the world know who you are. —Alan Wolfe, New York Times Book Review, 7 Jan. 2001
- The ivory-billed woodpecker, wan ghost of southern woodlands, may actually be flying forth from its niche in extinction. —Frank Graham, Jr., Audubon, May/June 2000
- Creatures in the genus Rickettsia occupy a niche between bacteria and viruses. They carry much of their own cellular equipment and are vulnerable to antibiotics, but like viruses they need to invade living cells in order to grow. —Wayne Biddle, A Field Guide to Germs, 1995
- No, a safe and humble backbencher's niche in the Senate was the inheritance of a Julius these days. —Colleen McCullough, The First Man in Rome, 1990
- A dozen or so fey young monks in saffron robes and shaven heads wafted from quiet niche to niche begging alms and looking very flesh-bound to my jaded eyes. —Arthur Miller, Timebends, 1987
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Illustration of NICHE
Origin of NICHE
French, from Middle French, from nicher to nest, from Vulgar Latin *nidicare, from Latin nidus nest — more at nest
First Known Use: 1611
Other Ecology Terms
2niche
transitive verb \ˈnich also ˈnēsh or ˈnish\nichednich·ing
Definition of NICHE
: to place in or as if in a niche (see 1niche)
Examples of NICHE
- The most moving of all the museums in Russia, right now, is also the smallest and the most unlikely. Niched with no fuss whatever in what was a communal apartment high in the annex of the former Sheremetyev Palace in St. Petersburg, it is devoted to a great Russian poet, Anna Akhmatova (1889-1966). —John Russell, New York Times Book Review, 1 Jan. 1995
Origin of NICHE
(see 1niche)
First Known Use: 1752
niche
noun \ˈnich sometimes ˈnish or ˈnēsh\ (Medical Dictionary)Medical Definition of NICHE
: crater <typical niche formation resulting from an ulcer>
niche
noun (Concise Encyclopedia)Smallest unit of a habitat that is occupied by an organism. A habitat niche is the physical space occupied by the organism; an ecological niche is the role the organism plays in the community of organisms found in the habitat. The activities of an organism and its relationships to other organisms are determined by its particular structure, physiology, and behaviour.
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