Nice to Meet You | Meaning, Synonyms & Examples
It’s nice to meet you is the most common way to show respect and kindness to a person you just met. The expression creates a positive tone for the rest of your conversation. This short sentence can also have a big impact on the relationship moving forward.
Whether you’re meeting someone face-to-face, online, professionally, or socially, “It’s nice to meet you” is one of many ways to make a good first impression. There are several other expressions that have the same or slightly different meanings like “It’s great to meet you” or “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Job Interviewee: It’s so nice to meet you, Max. My name is Aditi, and I’m excited to learn more about the position.
Job Interviewer: The pleasure is all mine. Your resume is impressive! Tell me about your background in the banking industry.
Nice to meet you synonyms
While “It’s nice to meet you” is perfectly fine during any introduction, there are other options that also work well, depending on the context.
Lovely to meet you
“Lovely to meet you” is a bit warmer than “nice to meet you.” You might use this expression when you meet someone who is connected to your close inner circle. You can make “lovely to meet you” a full sentence (e.g., “It is so lovely to meet you”) or use it on its own.
Bridesmaid: It’s lovely to meet you, Rose. Imani has said wonderful things.
It’s a pleasure to meet you
“It’s a pleasure to meet you” is more formal than “Nice to meet you.” This expression works well in professional settings. You might use this in a formal introduction email or a meeting with a new client.
Sales manager: Hello, Meredith. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m looking forward to our collaboration.
New client: The pleasure is all mine.
I’m pleased to make your acquaintance
“I’m pleased to make your acquaintance” is even more formal than “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
I hope this email finds you well. Thank you for introducing yourself and your family’s financial planning needs in your email. I’m quite pleased to make your acquaintance, and I’d like to set up a meeting to discuss some of your options. You can choose a time that works best for you on the link to my calendar below. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Sincerely,
Arthur Delacroix
It’s an honor to meet you
“It’s an honor to meet you” shows that you admire or even idolize the person you just met.
It’s great to finally meet you
Use “It’s great to finally meet you” when you’ve been hoping to meet the person for a long time (e.g., if you’re meeting someone whom your close friend mentions often).
It’s great to connect with you
“It’s great to connect with you” is a good alternative to “Nice to meet you” in professional contexts. Use this expression when you meet a new professional contact (e.g., when networking at a professional event or introducing yourself to someone via LinkedIn).
Nice to meet you in email or instant message
When you introduce yourself in an email, Slack, Google chat, or similar, avoid words like “e-meet” or “virtually.” This phrasing is verbose (wordy) because the audience already knows that the interaction isn’t face-to-face.
Similarly, don’t put “meet” in scare quotes when you meet people electronically. You’re still meeting the person, even if it’s not face-to-face. The quotation marks might be misinterpreted as sarcasm, which is a form of verbal irony.
In business emails, also use formal versions of “It’s nice to meet you” that are complete sentences rather than sentence fragments (e.g., “Great to meet you”).
- Thank you for your warm email introduction. It’s my absolute pleasure to “meet” you (virtually speaking anyway), and I’m looking forward to completing the training modules with you.
- Thank you for your warm email introduction. It’s my absolute pleasure to meet you, and I’m looking forward to completing the training modules with you.
- Great to meet you and look forward to working with you.
- It’s great to meet you, and I look forward to working with you.
In instant messages or chat forums, it’s usually fine to use functional fragments like “So great to be here!” especially if your audience does the same.
Nice meeting you
Another way to say “It’s nice to meet you” is “Nice meeting you.” Either expression works during the moment when you meet a person for the first time.
However, “Nice meeting you” also works when you’re saying goodbye to a new acquaintance. Let’s say you’re hosting a party, and your friend Lionel brings his friend Nick, whom you hadn’t met until he came to the party with Lionel. When Nick leaves, you could say “Nice meeting you,” which means the same thing as “It was nice to meet you.”
Job Interviewee: It was nice meeting you, Rebecca. I really appreciate the opportunity to learn more about the position.
“Nice meeting you” is sometimes confused with “Nice seeing you,” but these two expressions aren’t interchangeable. “Nice seeing you” only works when you’re talking to a person you already know.
Use “nice seeing you” during the interaction to mean “it is nice to be seeing you right now” (present tense) or when saying goodbye to mean “it was nice to see you” (past tense).
Party Guest’s Friend: It’s really great to see you, too. It’s been too long.
Restaurant Server: Thanks for coming in! I’m so glad you enjoyed the steak. Please come back and see us soon.
Regular Customer: It was nice seeing you, Jenna! I’ll be back. Don’t worry!
Nice to meet you responses
When someone says “It’s nice to meet you,” it’s polite to say that you’re also glad you met. The simplest response is “It’s nice to meet you, too.” However, there are several other responses that work well:
- Likewise!
- I’m also glad to meet you.
- The pleasure is all mine.
- Thank you! It’s very nice to meet you as well.
- I’ve heard such great things about you.
- It’s great to meet you, too.
New Chef: Thank you! It’s very nice to meet you as well.
If you want to respond very briefly and informally to “It’s nice to meet you,” you can use “you, too,” but “me, too” isn’t correct. “You, too” is short for “It’s nice to meet you, too.” You wouldn’t say, “It’s nice to meet me, too.”
“To” is a preposition that shows a movement toward something (e.g., “Ben drove to St. Louis”). The adverb “too” is the right word in “Nice to meet you, too” because it means “also.” Place a comma before too when the word ends a sentence.
- It’s great to meet you, to.
- It’s great to meet you, too.
Frequently asked questions about nice to meet you
- What’s the difference between nice to meet you and nice to see you?
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The phrases nice to meet you and nice to see you have different meanings and audiences.
“Nice to meet you” is short for “It is nice to meet you.” The audience is a person whom you are currently meeting for the first time.
Nice to meet you example New student: Hi, I’m Carlos, and I’m here for my first class.Teacher: Welcome, Carlos! Nice to meet you! I’m Mr. Davis. Please sit anywhere you’d like.
New student: Nice to meet you, too, Mr. Davis.
“Nice to see you” is a polite expression for a person you already know. When it’s used as a greeting, it means “It is nice to see you” (simple present tense). When it’s part of a farewell, it means “It was nice to see you” (past tense).
Nice to see you examples Aunt: Come on in, Oliver! It’s so nice to see you! Your cousins are all waiting for you upstairs.
Nephew: It’s great to be here, Aunt Carol. Thanks for having me over today.Party Host: Thanks for coming, James. Drive safe!
Party Guest: Later, Liz! Nice to see you!QuillBot’s free Paraphrasing Tool can help you find other ways to say “Nice to meet you” or “Nice to see you.”
- How do you respond to the phrase nice to meet you?
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To respond to the phrase nice to meet you, tell the other person that it’s nice to meet them, too.
Some ways to say “It’s nice to meet you, too” include the following:
- Likewise
- The pleasure is all mine
- I’m glad to meet you, too
- It’s great to meet you as well
An informal and brief response is “you, too.” Avoid “me, too” because it’s not the correct abbreviation for “It’s nice to meet you, too.”
Nice meeting you response example New Doctor: It’s nice to meet you, Andrew.
New Patient: It’s nice meeting you as well, Dr. Cho. I’ve heard great things about you.QuillBot’s free Paraphraser can help you find other ways to say “nice to meet you, too.”
- Can you say it’s nice to e-meet you?
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Avoid statements like it’s nice to e-meet you when meeting someone over email or other forms of electronic communication (e.g., Slack, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams).
Instead, you can start an email or instant message with it’s nice to meet you. These variations also work well.
- It’s great to connect with you.
- I’m so glad to finally meet you.
- It’s an honor to meet you.
Phrases like “e-meet” or “nice to virtually meet you” are unnecessary because the audience already knows that the correspondence is digital.
When you’re meeting someone for the first time over email, grammar is also important. QuillBot’s free Grammar Checker can help you avoid mistakes.
