all right

 
(also alright)

adjective

[predic.]
  • of a satisfactory or acceptable quality: the tea was all right
  • in a satisfactory mental or physical state: do you feel all right to walk home?
  • permissible; allowable: it’s all right for you to go now

adverb

  • 1in a satisfactory manner or to a satisfactory extent; fairly well: we get on all right
  • 2used to emphasize how certain one is about something: ‘Are you sure it’s him?’ ‘It’s him all right.’

exclamation

  • expressing or asking for assent, agreement, or acceptance: all right, I’ll tell you

Phrases

it's all right for——

used to suggest that someone is luckier than you: it was all right for them! They didn’t have to put up with the brat trailing after them “It’s all right for some,” Grandad huffed

it'll be all right on the night

used to say that a performance or event will be successful even if the preparations have not gone well: the organizers assure everyone that it will all be all right on the night

The merging of all and right to form the one-word spelling alright is not recorded until the end of the 19th century (unlike other similar merged spellings such as altogether and already, which date from much earlier). There is no logical reason for insisting on all right as two words, when other single-word forms such as altogether have long been accepted. Nevertheless it is still considered by many people to be unacceptable in formal writing.

Spelling help

Although all right can also be spelled alright, you should use all right in formal writing.