Attenuation
Attenuation refers to a slight degree of the quality or its entire absence, and is expressed as follows:
slightly better a little disappointing a bit salty
kind of weird sort of greyish hair somewhat odd (formal)
Sort of and kind of are used, in very informal English, when the speaker is uncertain how to express the exact quality of something.
At all can be used as an attenuator in yes/no interrogative, negative and conditional clauses, as a politeness strategy in the case of conditionals. It is placed before or after the adjective:
Are you at all worried? Are you worried at all?
We’d like to stay another week, if it’s at all possible.
Slight attenuation or reservation can be expressed by negating a high degree:
not very likely not quite sure of her name
not entirely true not particularly fond of insects
The following modifiers express in 1 a minimal degree of attribution and often imply a certain degree of the opposite quality; in 2 they express absence or denial of the quality named:
1 hardly likely, barely necessary, scarcely believable, none too happy
2 I’m not at all surprised at the result, or, I’m not surprised at all at the result.
