始末だ|しまつだ
- 1After a chain of bad developments, things end up in an unfortunate or shameful state.Ex. 2
- 2Criticizes someone's conduct by stating the regrettable result it led to.Ex. 1
- 3As この/その/あの始末だ, refers to the sorry state things are in.
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A fairly stiff, evaluative expression used in writing and in serious or complaining speech. It lists the circumstances first and then states a deplorable final result, often about someone else's behavior. Unlike あげく or た末, it usually closes the sentence, and the result it introduces is always negative.
Do not use 始末だ for good or neutral outcomes; it always presents the result as bad or deplorable.
Note that it sounds critical or exasperated, so using it about a listener or superior can come across as blaming.
Note that 始末 here means a sorry outcome, not the verb 始末する meaning to deal with or dispose of something.
- 羽目になるN1「羽目になる」focuses on you or those around you being pressured by circumstances into doing something you would rather not do, with a nuance of regret or self-mockery. 「始末だ」focuses on the speaker blaming the bad outcome brought about by a chain of events, and is mostly used to criticize others.
- あげくN2「あげく」attaches mid-sentence to the た form or a noun + の and introduces a result that is mostly bad or unexpected. 「始末だ」comes at the end of the sentence, attaches to the dictionary form or the ている form, and its outcome is always bad, carrying blame, resignation, or dissatisfaction.
- た末 / の末N2「た末／の末」attaches to the た form of a verb or to a noun and stresses finally arriving at a result after long effort or twists and turns; the result can be good or bad, and the pattern leans toward written style. 「始末だ」is used only for bad outcomes and carries blame, resignation, or dissatisfaction, so a good result cannot be rephrased with 「始末だ」.
- ことになるN4「ことになる」is neutral in tone, expressing an arrangement, a decision, or a result reached by calculation—good or bad—and it can attach to the ない form or the た form. 「始末だ」is used only for bad outcomes and carries blame, resignation, or dissatisfaction; if a bad-result sentence is rewritten with 「ことになる」, that emotional tone disappears.
- ばかりだN2「ばかりだ」attaches to the dictionary form of a verb expressing change and means 'more and more...', covering both good and bad trends but most often bad ones. 「始末だ」instead pinpoints the final bad outcome after a series of events and always carries a negative judgment, so the two—one about a trend, the other about an outcome—generally cannot be interchanged.
羽目になる stresses being forced into an unwanted situation, often one's own, while 始末だ criticizes the deplorable result of a sequence of events. あげく and た末 link a long process to its outcome (た末 can even be positive), ことになる reports an outcome neutrally, and ばかりだ describes steady change in one direction rather than a final bad result.
