ずくめ

JLPT N1approx.Neutral
Meaning
  1. 1Completely clothed in, or covered by, a single color.Ex. 1
  2. 2Consisting of nothing but a certain kind of thing or event, often good things.Ex. 2
Formation
Noun+ずくめ
ずくめ+の+Nounas a modifier
ずくめ+だで (as a predicate)e.g. 黒ずくめの服装, いいことずくめだ, ごちそうずくめ
Examples
Today she is dressed all in black again, just like a detective.
この一いち週間しゅうかんはいいことずくめで、夢ゆめみたいだ。
This past week has been nothing but good things; it's like a dream.
Usage

Used in both speech and writing, mostly in a limited set of set phrases such as 黒ずくめ, 白ずくめ, いいことずくめ and ごちそうずくめ. It stresses that something is uniformly made up of one thing, and it is often neutral or positive. Unlike だらけ, it is not inherently negative, and unlike まみれ, it does not describe a substance smeared on a surface.

Watch out

Note that ずくめ combines naturally with only a limited set of nouns and is not freely productive with any noun.

Do not use ずくめ for dirt, sweat or blood covering a surface; use まみれ for that.

Learners should not use ずくめ for a mere tendency or partial quality, because it expresses totality.

Easily confused with
  • だらけN3だらけ emphasizes an excessive amount spread all over the surface and often carries a sense of annoyance, typically attaching to words like 泥, 血, 傷, or 間違い; ずくめ stresses the overall impression of everything being uniformly one kind and can be either positive or negative. Use だらけ for things like 泥 or 傷 and ずくめ for a run of good things; they are generally not interchangeable.
  • まみれN1まみれ means 泥, 血, 汗, etc. caked all over the surface, or figuratively being mired in things like 借金 or 嘘; it is mostly negative and focuses on what sticks to and covers the surface rather than on uniformity. For attached substances like 泥 or 汗, use まみれ — it is not interchangeable with ずくめ.
  • ぐるみN1ぐるみ means an entire group taking part together (家族ぐるみ) or the whole of something with its outer layer included (皮ぐるみ), and does not express 'uniformly all one kind'; ずくめ means everything is the same color or the same kind of thing, so the two are not interchangeable.
  • っぽいN3っぽい means having a certain quality or leaning toward a certain shade, as 黒っぽい means 'blackish'; ずくめ means uniformly all, so 黒ずくめ means dressed in nothing but black. っぽい is colloquial and can also attach to adjectives and verbs; the two are not interchangeable.
  • がちN3がち attaches to the ます-stem of a verb (its ます form with ます removed) or to certain nouns and means 'tend to / be prone to,' focusing on tendency and frequency and often used for undesirable things; ずくめ attaches only to nouns and means uniformly all, with either a positive or negative nuance. The two are not interchangeable.
  • 気味N3気味 means 'slightly tending toward ~,' a mild degree often used for less-than-ideal states, and can attach to a verb's ます-form or to nouns; ずくめ means 'uniformly all,' a thorough degree, attaches only to nouns, and can be positive or negative. The two are not interchangeable.

だらけ means full of something, usually undesirable, and まみれ means smeared with a substance such as mud or sweat. ぐるみ means "including everything" (e.g. 家族ぐるみ), while っぽい, がち and 気味 express only a tendency or slight degree, in contrast to the totality of ずくめ.

Grammar · JLPT grammar levels are community estimates, not official (no official lists have been published since the 2010 revision).

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