あげくに details
write + (past) + after all that, in the end — and the outcome was one the speaker resents
kaita agekuni
after all that, in the end — and the outcome was one the speaker resents
meaning: after all that writing
さんざん悩んだあげくに、結局どちらも買わなかった。
sanzan nayanda agekuni, kekkyoku dochira mo kawanakatta.
I ended up buying neither after all that agonizing. neutral
二時間も待たされたあげく、店、閉まってたんだよ。
nijikan mo matasareta ageku, mise, shimatteta n da yo.
They kept me waiting two whole hours and then the place was closed. casual
- た-form
- noun
- contraction
Examples
after all that — a long or repeated process ends in a result the speaker did not want
さんざん悩んだあげくに、結局どちらも買わなかった。
sanzan nayandaagekuni, kekkyoku dochira mo kawanakatta.
I ended up buying neither after all that agonizing. neutral
二時間も待たされたあげく、店、閉まってたんだよ。
nijikan mo matasareta ageku, mise, shimatteta n da yo.
They kept me waiting two whole hours and then the place was closed. casual
長時間にわたる議論のあげく、本件は次回に持ち越すこととなりました。
choujikan ni wataru giron no ageku, honken wa jikai ni mochikosu koto to narimashita.
After hours of discussion, this matter has ended up being carried over to the next meeting. formal
Formation
{V-ta}あげくにattaches to た-form{N}のあげくにattaches to noun
Variant notes
- たあげく — に drops freely in speech and writing alike with no register shift — 迷ったあげく、買わなかった.
Notes
never a plan or a request — ×迷ったあげく、買おう.
Related patterns
Similar
末に is neutral about how it turns out and routinely reports a good result (交渉の末に合意した), while あげく requires the outcome to be unwelcome — 迷ったあげく、いい席が取れた reads as sarcasm, not a report.
Both colour an outcome with regret, but てしまう puts the regret on the verb itself and needs no preceding process (寝坊してしまった), while あげく puts it on the JOINT — it claims the bad end was earned by a long drawn-out run-up, so a single instantaneous event cannot take it.