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All right and alright

All right is an adjective or adverb.

All right as an adjective​

We use all right as an adjective after verbs such as be, feel, seem or look, but not before a noun (predicative adjective). It means ‘well’, ‘OK’, ‘satisfactory’:

  • A: How are you?
  • B: I’m all right.
  • A: Is everything all right?
  • B: Yes, fine thanks.
  • Was your meal all right?
  • Not: Was it an all right meal?

All right may be written as alright, but all right is more common:

  • There was an accident and the bus driver was injured, but all the passengers were alright.

All right as an adverb​

We use all right as an adverb to mean ‘well’, ‘OK’, ‘satisfactorily’:

  • Jill is really worried about her driving test, but I think she’s doing all right.
  • A: Is everything going all right for you these days?
  • B: Yes, business is good.

All right as a discourse marker​

We use all right to show that we want to begin a new topic or a new action:

  • All right*, can we start the music now please?*

We also use all right to show that we accept a point of view, or agree with what needs to be done:

  • All right*, you have a point but I still think we need to get more advice.*

We can also use all right as a question to follow up a statement. This is informal:

  • A: I think I’ll leave at 5. All right*?*
  • B: Yes, that’s okay with me.
See also
  • Right or rightly?
  • Discourse markers (so, right, okay)