ALRIGHT

alright

(adjective) nonstandard usage

okay, O.K., all right, alright

(adverb) in a satisfactory or adequate manner; “she’ll do okay on her own”; “held up all right under pressure”; (‘alright’ is a nonstandard variant of ‘all right’)

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Adjective

alright (not comparable)

(often, proscribed) Alternative form of all right; satisfactory; okay; in acceptable order.

Synonyms: acceptable, adequate, fine, Thesaurus:satisfactory

Interjection

alright

(informal) Used to indicate acknowledgement or acceptance; OK.

(UK, informal) A generic greeting; hello; how are you.

Synonym: Thesaurus:hello

Usage notes

• Some distinguish between alright and all right by using alright to mean "fine, good, okay" and all right to mean "all correct". Alternatively (or in addition to the previous), Alright may be used as an interjection akin to "OK", whilst all right is used in the sense of "unharmed, healthy".

• The contracted term is considered nonstandard by Garner's Modern American Usage and American Heritage Dictionary. Indeed, the Oxford English Dictionary notes that although analogous forms exist in words such as already, altogether, and always, "the contracted form is strongly criticized in the vast majority of usage guides, but without cogent reasons". The Oxford Dictionaries also conclude that "alright remains nonstandard" and that it is "still regarded as being unacceptable in formal writing". Other dictionaries and style manuals also consider it incorrect or less correct than all right.

Source: Wiktionary