Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US) excellent, first-rate; OK, satisfactory.

1919		I. Bacheller Man for Ages (2008) 79: ‘Stout as a buffalo an’ as to looks I’d call him, as ye might say, real copasetic.’ Mrs. Lukins expressed this opinion solemnly .
1921		Ethel Waters ‘At the New Jump Steady Ball’ 🎵 Copasetic was the password for one and all, / At the New Jump Steady Ball!
1925		Van Vechten Nigger Heaven 285: Kopasetee: an approbatory epithet somewhat stronger than all right.
1930		J. Lait Put on the Spot 32: Gee, that’s hot. Is it all copesettee?
1930		J. Lait Gangster Girl 3: I did copesette before I met you. [Ibid.] 69: ‘Where’s Tim?’ Tommy asked, blinking and relaxing. ‘I’m copesette, kid,’ said Cyclone Tim.
1931		N. Van Patten ‘Vocab. of the Amer. Negro’ in AS VII:1 29: kopasette. V. A term of approval. All-right.
1933		Ersine Und. and Prison Sl. 29: copissettic, adj. All right, okay.
1934		J.H. O’Hara Appointment in Samarra 20: You had to be a good judge of what a man was, and the English was copacetic.
1941		‘Digg Mee’ ‘Observation Post’ in N.Y. Age 26 Apr. 9/7: Informers tell that all is not ‘copie’ between Bea Balls and Max Wells.
1944		D. Burley Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive 142: Kopasetic — Excellent, tops, okay.
1947		B. Schulberg Harder They Fall (1971) 44: Cops the bantamweight crown and everything’s copasetic.
1948		Z.N. Hurston Seraph on the Suwanee (1995) 901: Copasetty! I’m rearing to go.
1951		E. Waters (ref. to 1921) His Eye Is on the Sparrow 141: My first [record] was made for the Cardinal Company [released 1921] and had ‘New York Glide’ on one side, ‘At the New Jump Study Ball’ on the other. You’ll find Bojangles Robinson’s favorite word—copesetic—in the ‘Jump Study Ball’ lyrics. I’d heard it all over the South.
1953		L. Durst Jives of Dr. Hepcat (1989) 2: Of course you know the juke box is jumping real crazy and each and every tick of the tock every little old thing is much copasetic. [Ibid.] 4: The pool hall lends its class, guys so copus they gotta pass.
1959		‘Ed McBain’ Killer’s Wedge (1981) 81: Everything sure as hell looked copacetic upstairs.
1965		J. Thompson Texas by the Tail (1994) 197: The news from Aix is strictly copasetic.
1967		M. Braly On the Yard (2002) 227: The mimeographed lists of underworld slang [...] lexicons still defining such almost forgotten usages as ‘stool pigeon,’ ‘snowbird,’ ‘copacetic,’ and ‘moll buzzer’.
1967		in S. Harris Hellhole 218: We were kopacetic till her mother found out about us.
1974		(con. 1940s) E. Thompson Tattoo (1977) 240: It’s all copacetic now. All over now.
1975		E. Torres Carlito’s Way 29: Good bread coming in. Everything copasetic.
1976		Cab Calloway Of Minnie the Moocher and Me 182: Professor Calloway had a hard spiel and a kopasetic line.
1983		N. Proffitt Gardens of Stone (1985) 241: Here I come boppin’ in thinking everything is copacetic.
1987		J. Ciardi Good Words 316: Copasetic. All in order. All Okay. Fine and dandy.
1997		E. Little Another Day in Paradise 148: The hotel is beyond cool. Jewels has plenty of shit set up [...] Seems copacetic to me.
1997		C. Newland Scholar 123: If you can get one of ’em to come in for me, everyt’in’ should be copa.
1998		P. Doyle (con. late 1950s) Amaze Your Friends (2019) 68: ‘Copacetic!’.
2007		T. Dorsey Hurricane Punch 10: It’s copacetic. He’s a friendly.
2017		D. Winslow The Force [ebook] ‘Now call Carter, tell him everything is copacetic’.
2018		‘Aidan Truhen’ Price You Pay 118: Everyone’s happy. It’s copacetic. Stable.
2020		D. Winslow ‘Sunset’ in Broken 181: [O] of those guys who keeps things copacetic.