～まみれ— Covered All Over

• 子供たちは泥まみれになって遊んでいた。

  Kodomotachi wa doro mamire ni natte asonde ita.

  The children were playing, covered all over in mud.

  まみれ shows the children were completely coated with mud.

• 作業のあと、彼の顔は汗まみれだった。

  Sagyō no ato, kare no kao wa ase mamire datta.

  After the work, his face was drenched in sweat.

  まみれ describes the face fully covered with sweat.

• その会社は借金まみれで倒産した。

  Sono kaisha wa shakkin mamire de tōsan shita.

  That company went bankrupt, buried in debt.

  まみれ is used figuratively here to show the company was overwhelmed by debt.

• ・Register: neutral; vivid and often negative.
• ・Pairs with dirty/liquid substances: 泥, 血, 汗, 油, ほこり.
• ・Figurative uses include 借金まみれ (drowning in debt).

Commonly confused with

The JLPT rarely asks whether you recognise a pattern — it asks which of several similar patterns fits. These are the ones ～まみれ is tested against.

• ～気味 — A Touch Of, -ish
• ～げ — A Look of…
• ～ずじまい — Never Got Around To It
• ～というものだ — That's Truly What It Is
• ～どおり(に) — Just As
• ～として／としては — In the Capacity Of
• ながらに／ながらの — Just As It Is / While Remaining
• にかかわる — To Concern / A Matter Of