When we want to say that something is covered in or full of something else (e.g. “the bookshelf is covered in dust”, “the room is full of rubbish”, “the report is full of mistakes”) we use the phrase だらけ. It attaches directly to nouns and modifies other nouns with the possessive particle giving us two structures:
| 【Noun】だらけ |
| 【Noun】だらけの【Noun】 |
| 部屋はゴミだらけ。 |
| The room was full of rubbish. |
| １ヶ月も掃除していなくて、家はほこりだらけだよ。 |
| I didn’t clean for a month and the house of covered in dust. |
| 自転車から転んじゃって体は傷だらけ。 |
| I fell off my bike and I’m covered in bruises. |
だらけ can also be used in an abstract sense.
| 私は悩みだらけだよ。 |
| I’m full of worries. |
| 間違えだらけのレポートです。 |
| A report full of mistakes. |
But the connotation must be negative (or at least not positive).
| 懇親会は友達だらけで楽しかった。(✗) |
| [The social event was full of my friends—it was fun.] |
Instead it would be more natural just to say:
| 懇親会に友達がたくさんいて楽しかった。 |
| The social event was full of my friends—it was fun. |
| 渋谷は人だらけで動けなかった。 |
| I couldn’t move for people in Shibuya. |
Since the negative connotation isn’t placed on “people”, per se, but the fact that they were in your way means that the above is acceptable.
まみれ
まみれ is the better choice when you want to saying that something is covered in liquid.
| A face covered in tears. |
| Someone covered in blood. |
| Rescue a bird covered in oil. |
ずくめ
Whereas the usage of だらけ and まみれ can overlap somewhat, ずくめ is unique in the sense that is normally used for colours (which sound unnatural with either of the other two expressions).
| A man entirely dressed in black. |
| To dress completely in white. |