at all
∞
1.0
- idiom
:
en absoluto
- And if you don't like it at all, we can always change it.
- do not care at all
- make sense at all
- not a problem at all
We have not done that at all, right.
- We have not done that at all, right.
- Never been there through work at all, have you?
- Then I had no money at all, and I was.
- Bro, Have you have you felt at all safe on that thing?
- They went out and came back in no time at all with guilty.
- She wasn't laughing at all, but neither was I.
- It's just kind of like long and not wide at all so that's weird.
- In fact, you don't have to have a heart at all, just a wallet.
- You, you have no understanding at all of how serious it gets.
- This did not help Socrates case at all in in ancient Greece.
- He's not feeling any empathy at all for Anthony Fauci.
Examples
-
Well, can you throw a ball? - Not at all.
-
I don't understand this concept at all.
-
We have not done that at all, right.
-
Never been there through work at all, have you?
-
You, you have no understanding at all of how serious it gets.
-
Just anything I can do, anything at all.
-
I don't think it was my fault at all.
-
Hey, I bet she hasn't got a boyfriend at all.
-
But consumption did not increase at all around the time of the stimulus payments.
Academic text (2011) -
Unlike her, Bastable did not appear to be at all frightened of the creature.
Fiction book (1990)
Synonyms
63
1.3
In any way, even the smallest amount
51
3.7
There is not even a small amount
46
4.4
Not at all, not even a little
19
3.8
Shows no effect or feeling, not even a little
Antonyms
How Emphatic
481
2.7
∞
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
at + all
The meaning 'in any way/to any extent' is partially inferable because 'all' signals entirety and, in negative or emphatic contexts, combines with a preposition to give a sense of 'not even to the smallest degree'. However, the fixed collocation 'at all' functions as an intensifier in English and is not fully predictable from the literal meanings of 'at' + 'all', so learners who have not seen this pattern may not derive the exact usage, even if similar patterns exist in other languages.
Etymology
At all may come from the simple idea of at plus all, meaning 'at any part' of the whole, so it came to mean 'in any way' or 'to any extent'. That's why we add at all to questions and negative sentences to make the meaning stronger.