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Is it “alright” or “allright”?

Which is correct in English, "all right" or "alright"?

These expressions don't cause any problem in verbal communication but I confuse them while writing. To be frank, I sometimes use "all right" and sometimes "alright" without actually knowing which one is correct. If both of them are correct, how should I know which one to use in a particular case?

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  • "Alright" is sub-standard usage.
    – htoip
    Commented Apr 28, 2012 at 6:00
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    @htoip: not so.
    – Kris
    Commented Apr 28, 2012 at 6:32

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Many people will insist on all right, but I have never used anything other than alright. There are precedents in already and almost. Alright has the advantage of allowing us to distinguish between The answers were all right, meaning they were all correct, and The answers were alright, meaning they were OK, but nothing special.

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    Of course, there are the Young Republicans... in which case, the kids are all Right.
    – MT_Head
    Commented Apr 28, 2012 at 6:09
  • @MT_Head: Alright.
    – Kris
    Commented Apr 28, 2012 at 6:34
  • Indeed, being "alright" has little to do with "all right". A guy who is alright could be wrong about a lot of things, or he could not be feeling all right today. "alright" is as unrelated to "all right", as "all ready" is to "already".
    – Kaz
    Commented Apr 28, 2012 at 8:42
  • What about this example? I asked all the kids in my class a question. They all answered it correctly. They were all right. In this case alright is not right.
    – Brad
    Commented Apr 28, 2012 at 9:23
  • @Brad: Exactly.
    – Barrie England
    Commented Apr 28, 2012 at 13:03
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The meanings are very different.

Alright means okay; acceptable. All right means entirely, completely or totally right. And in this instance right could mean correct, or the opposite of left.

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