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Glite Dictionary
🔢 Not less than 🙂 A small positive
at least

at least

∞ 1.3
To point out a small positive in a bad situation
  • idiom
  • /ət liːst/
translation icon : al menos
  • Well, at least you won't have to move to India.
  • at least initially
  • seems, at least
  • at least according to

What if in each of them, at least at the start.

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Examples

  • Blake is alive, and if not well, at least on the road to recovery.

    Camp Daze (2005)

  • Probably not much, but at least now we know.

    Harvard University

  • So you can at least count on that.

    Tati

  • Maybe, maybe not, but at least I would have tried.

    Film Courage

  • The power might be out for weeks, but at least the family has clean clothes to wear!

    Academic text (2011)

  • Finding the right fit might still remain a challenge, but at least the administration considers this an important issue.

    Academic text (2011)

  • We may create more white-collar crime, but at least nobody will get hurt.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • At least Carey says he loves me.

    I'm Not Gay : A Musical (2023)

  • Let's at least try to make it as far as dessert, so she can put Jakie down.

    Bagman (2024)

  • It's a tough situation, but at least we have each other to lean on.

Synonyms

leastways
vsat least
  • Archaic
9.9

Use this informal word to show a small positive point

is the neutral form used to introduce a consoling point
leastwise
vsat least
  • Archaic
9.4

Says the smallest thing we can be sure of

focuses on offering consolation rather than stating a minimum

Antonyms

at worst
35 3.6

If things go as badly as possible, expect the most serious result

How Consoling

fortunately
425 2.5
at least
∞ 1.3
bright side
  • Informal
91 3.4

Surface Forms

at least positive

Morphology

at + least

The sense ‘minimum’ or a consolatory ‘anyway/at the very least’ is directly built from 'at' (indicating a point/degree) + 'least' (the smallest degree), so a learner who knows both words can infer the MWE meaning. This construction follows a regular compositional pattern (indicating a lower bound or concession) that is common across languages and thus readily understandable to a B1 learner.

Etymology

At least works like a small good point in bad news: when something goes wrong, a person points to one small positive fact and says at least before it. That's why at least is used to give 'a small comfort'.