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Formation: N + ずくめ; N + ずくめの + N; N + ずくめだ／ずくめで (works only with a limited set of nouns, e.g. 黒, いいこと, 結構, ごちそう, 規則, 異例)

〜ずくめ says that something is X through and through: everything that happens, everything someone wears, or everything on offer is X. It works with a fairly fixed set of nouns. The commonest are 黒ずくめ or 白ずくめ (dressed all in one colour), いいことずくめ, 結構ずくめ and ごちそうずくめ (all good things), 規則ずくめ (rules everywhere) and, in news reports, 異例ずくめ (unusual in every way). Many uses are positive or neutral, but negative ones like 規則ずくめ also occur. Learners cannot put just any noun before it, and it is not used for substances on a surface, so 泥ずくめ is wrong. Compare 〜だらけ, which means full of or covered in something unwanted (傷だらけ, 間違いだらけ) without implying that everything is X. 〜まみれ is for a messy substance stuck all over a surface (泥まみれ, 汗まみれ). 〜ずくめ instead describes a whole made up entirely of one kind of thing.

Variants: 〜ずくめの、〜ずくめだ、〜ずくめで、〜尽くめ

Examples

• 今年は結婚に昇進と、いいことずくめの一年だった。
  I got married and was promoted, so this year was nothing but good news.
• 目撃者によると、犯人は黒ずくめの服装だったという。
  According to witnesses, the culprit was dressed all in black.
• 史上初の無観客開催など、今大会は異例ずくめとなった。
  Among other firsts, it was held without spectators, and this tournament was unusual in every way.

In real texts 0 occurrence(s)

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