The phrase "almost not really" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to express a sense of uncertainty or to indicate that something is close to being true but not quite there.
Example: "When asked if he enjoyed the movie, he replied, 'I liked it, but almost not really.'"
Alternatives: "barely true" or "not quite".
Almost, but not really, because Jeremy Irons plays the ruthless head of the Borgia clan with almost campy relish.
We were teaching you how to act in English.' And I was like, 'Yeah, you bastards!' I was getting bad grades and almost not passing, really".
Learn cool card tricks that actually work though the jaded spoilsports around our office won't give you any satisfaction (Voilà your card, gentlemen? "Well, almost"… "Not really").
Hers is an unconventional beauty – her translucent skin and almost melancholic features not really fitting the modern Hollywood mould.
I've also noticed that nothing makes people more obsessed with their phone connectivity than when it is almost working but not really working properly.
The full reasons for Norah's withdrawal are revealed only a few pages from the end of the book and are almost glossed over, not really carrying the weight of the earlier mystery.
It's almost funny, but not really, and you and I have heard/read/seen that kind of thing done a hundred times better in even the most woeful pieces of female comedy of the past 50 years (stopping short, of course, of The Vicar of Dibley).
"The fundamental question I think everyone wants to know is, how has this virus that has been around for almost 70 years not really caused such clinical problems until the past two years?" said Valderramos, a clinical research fellow in obstetrics and gynecology at UCLA.
For me, that's such a hard-to-describe thing that maybe even almost can't really be taught".
