← Grammar bank

Formation: い-Adj + 限りだ; な-Adj + な + 限りだ (polite: 限りです)

Attached to an adjective of emotion, 〜限りだ says the speaker feels it to the fullest: truly happy, utterly lonely, terribly disappointing. Typical adjectives are 嬉しい, 寂しい, 心細い, 羨ましい, 頼もしい, 恥ずかしい, 情けない and 残念. It is fairly formal and often appears in speeches, greetings, letters and essays, usually in the polite form 限りです. It describes the speaker's own feelings right now, so it is not used to report another person's emotions. Don't confuse it with 〜限り, which means 'as long as' or 'as far as'. Compared with 〜てたまらない or 〜てならない, which sound spontaneous and conversational, 〜限りだ sounds composed and dignified. 〜の極み and 〜の至り also express a peak, but they attach to nouns (感激の極み, 光栄の至り), not adjectives.

Variants: 〜限りです、〜限りであった

Examples

• 皆様にお祝いいただき、嬉しい限りです。
  I am truly delighted to be congratulated by all of you.
• このような結果に終わり、残念な限りです。
  It is deeply regrettable that things ended this way.
• 若手選手の活躍は頼もしい限りだ。
  The young players' strong performances are most reassuring.

In real texts 0 occurrence(s)

No post has used this pattern yet. Examples from real texts will appear here.