adj

OK

oh-KAY

adj

All right; acceptable, permitted, or satisfactory.

"Is it OK if I leave early today?"

"The food was OK, nothing special."

In good health or emotional shape; not upset or hurt.

"Are you OK after that fall?"

"I'm OK, just a bit tired."

verb

To approve or give the go-ahead for something.

"My manager okayed the extra spending."

"The plan still needs to be OK'd by legal."

intj

Used to show agreement, acknowledgement, or acceptance.

""Meet me at six." "OK, see you then.""

noun

Approval or agreement; the act of confirming something is fine to proceed.

"I just need your OK before we ship it."

How to Use OK

Learner’s notes

In plain EnglishA catch-all word for "fine," "acceptable," or "yes, agreed" — one of the most widely recognized words in the world.

When to use it

Very informal/neutral; fine in speech and casual writing, but "acceptable" or "approved" reads better in formal documents.

Common pairings

it's OK OK with me give the OK OK, so...

Word Forms

more OK comparative, OKer comparative, more OK comparative, OKed past tense, OK'd past tense, OK'ed past tense, OKs plural, OK's plural, OKs singular, OK's singular, most OK superlative, OKest superlative, most OK superlative

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Fill the Gap

Can you complete this real example?

Is it _____ if I leave early today?

Etymology

Its exact origin is debated, but the most widely accepted story traces it to a 1839 Boston newspaper fad for joke misspellings — "oll korrect" for "all correct" — abbreviated to OK, which then got a huge popularity boost from Martin Van Buren's 1840 presidential campaign (his nickname was "Old Kinderhook").

Antonyms

NG bad forbidden inadequate poor unsatisfactory ill poorly

Related Words

good bad forbidden beautiful rotten poor evil nice

Rhymes for OK

wok bok ook Tok Mok Kok Fok book look cook rook hook

See all rhymes for OK →

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NG bad forbidden inadequate poor unsatisfactory ill poorly good beautiful rotten evil