THE MODERN “AT ALL” IN MODERN RUSSIAN

Abstract

The aim of this article is to find out what the word means and how it is used at all, and if we turn to explanatory dictionaries, we will find that it is interpreted as "completely, entirely", the word completely, in turn, as "completely, entirely", and - "completely, fully, completely". It is easy to see that the words in question, together with their meanings, make up a logical circle. This testifies to the undoubted semantic connectedness of the named lexical units, but does not clarify either their meaning, the degree of their generality, or the nature of their differences. It also follows from the dictionary entries that an adverb at all when used with negation in postposition (not at all) is an accessory of colloquial style, and when used without negation is defined as colloquial and obsolete.