niche

noun \ ˈnich also ˈnēsh or ˈnish \

|Updated on: 12 Jul 2018

Examples: niche in a Sentence

Editor's Note: How do you pronounce niche? Is it \NEESH\ or \NICH\?

Definition of niche

1 a : a recess in a wall especially for a statue

b : something (such 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 niche defined for English-language learners

See niche defined for kids

Examples of niche in a Sentence

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
I found a niche for myself after high school.
She finally found her niche as a teacher.
the species that fill an environmental niche

Recent Examples of niche from the Web

Still, for Caitlin Graff, 32, a greenhouse manager who has worked at Wicklein’s for about five years, her employer fills an important niche.

— leah brennan, baltimoresun.com, "Family-owned and operated business in Parkville blooms with native plants," 9 July 2018
At Cynosure this week, amid the peak summer season, Caenepeel talked to the Anchorage Daily News about his business finding a niche in tourism and beer.

— annie zak, Anchorage Daily News, "Shop Talk: Anchorage brewery tour business taps into intersection of craft beer and tourism," 2 July 2018
In a country where banks cater mostly to the wealthy and the largest businesses, Kueski fills a niche left unserved by banks by providing fast loans to small businesspeople and the growing middle class.

— andrew selee, Smithsonian, "How Guadalajara Reinvented Itself as a Technology Hub," 13 June 2018
Maybe my horse found a niche on how to get faster somewhere down the line in the last couple of weeks.

— charles curtis, For The Win, "Rob Gronkowski on Gronkowski the horse: Maybe he has 'extra powers' for Belmont Stakes," 6 June 2018
One of #paid’s editorial team members wrote an article about how to start becoming a blogger, Instagrammer or YouTuber, sharing these five tips: Pick a niche: There are a lot of pet accounts, why do people want to follow yours?

— saryn chorney, PEOPLE.com, "How to Make Your Pet Instagram-Famous — and Get Paid Doing It," 30 May 2018
Val Kilmer would go on to replace the actor as the Caped Crusader and Keaton found a new niche with films like Noah, Birdman, Spotlight, The Founder, and Spider-Man: Homecoming.

— nick romano, EW.com, "Michael Keaton caps commencement speech with two words: 'I'm Batman'," 17 May 2018
While that’s a far cry from the season finale of Game of Thrones, which drew 16.5 million viewers, HBO said its foreign shows are aimed at niche audiences in the U.S.

— bloomberg, Fortune, "HBO Is Taking Its Cord-Cutter War Against Amazon and Netflix to Europe," 11 May 2018
In a world of specialty events focused on niche audiences, the Sports Show still casts a wide net.

— paul a. smith, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Fuel your outdoors dreams at the Journal Sentinel Sports Show," 2 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'niche.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

How do you pronounce niche? Is it \NEESH\ or \NICH\?

There is a debate about how you are supposed to pronounce niche. There are two common pronunciation variants, both of which are currently considered correct: \NEESH\ (rhymes with sheesh) and \NICH\ (rhymes with pitch). \NICH\ is the more common one and the older of the two pronunciations. It is the only pronunciation given for the word in all English dictionaries until the 20th century, when \NEESH\ was first listed as a pronunciation variant in Daniel Jones's English Pronouncing Dictionary (1917). \NEESH\ wasn’t listed as a pronunciation in our dictionaries until our 1961 Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged, and it wasn’t entered into our smaller Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary until 1993. Even then, it was marked in the Collegiate as a pronunciation that was in educated use but not considered acceptable until 2003.

All this is to say that the historical pronunciation has been \NICH\, and that \NEESH\ is a relative newcomer that came about likely under influence from French pronunciation conventions. At this point in time in the U.S., \NICH\ is still the more common pronunciation, but \NEESH\ is gaining ground. Our evidence suggests that in British English, \NEESH\ is now the more common pronunciation.

Illustration of niche

Origin and Etymology of niche

French, from Middle French, from nicher to nest, from Vulgar Latin *nidicare, from Latin nidus nest — more at nest

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1610

in the meaning defined at sense 1a

See Words from the same year

niche Synonyms

Synonyms

groove, place, slot;

rank, standing, station, status;

forte, long suit, métier (also metier), speciality, specialty, strong suit, thing;

Other Ecology Terms

Malthusian, anthropogenic, biomass, carbon footprint, crepuscular, sere, symbiosis, taiga, tundra

niche

verb \ ˈnich also ˈnēsh or ˈnish \

Definition of niche

niched; niching

transitive verb

: to place in or as if in a niche (see ¹niche)

Examples of niche in a Sentence

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

Recent Examples of niche from the Web

And many websites cater to niche vacation markets, from hikers to cruisers.

— rob wile, miamiherald, "Even vacations can be hell for autism families. A new website is here to help. | Miami Herald," 3 May 2018
Christian support for the Aliyah largely began with the collapse of the Soviet Union and has grown in recent years as American Jews have redirected charitable donations to niche causes.

— Washington Post, "Christians emerge as key patrons for Jews moving to Israel," 8 Mar. 2018

Origin and Etymology of niche

see ¹niche

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1753

in the meaning defined above

See Words from the same year

NICHE Defined for English Language Learners

niche

noun

Definition of niche for English Language Learners

: a job, activity, etc., that is very suitable for someone
: the situation in which a business's products or services can succeed by being sold to a particular kind or group of people
: an environment that has all the things that a particular plant or animal needs in order to live