Colloquial Variant guide

A-okay

adj · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˌeɪ.əʊˈkeɪ/
  • General-American: /ˌeɪ.oʊˈkeɪ/
  • rhymes with -eɪ

1

adj

Meaning 1

In perfect order; thoroughly acceptable.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: colloquial

Examples

  • 1952, advertisement by Midvac Steels. "The Golden Age of Advertising - the 50s", p. 57, Ed. Jim Heimann, Taschen 2005. A-OK for tomorrow's missile demands.
  • 1970, Mike Brewer and Tom Shipley, Tarkio, "Oh Mommy" It says right there in the constitution, It's really A-okay to have a revolution, When the leaders that you choose Really don't fit their shoes.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: okay

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Alternative letter-case form of A-okay.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: alt-of

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

First attested in 1952 in the US, popularized in the 1960s by John A. Powers as NASA's public affairs officer for Project Mercury: the "voice of Mercury Control". Intensive form of okay, presumably "all [systems] okay".