せいぜい～

About

せいぜい is an adverb that means "at most; at best; the longest" or "to the utmost; as much as possible".

せいぜい is most commonly followed by nouns/noun-phrases that express amounts, including distances/lengths of time, or those that express a value of some kind.

せいぜい is most commonly written in hiragana, but may also occasionally appear in kanji as 精々せいぜい.

E.g. このバイトで稼かせげるのは、月つきにせいぜい10万まん円えんぐらいだ。 "At most, you can save around 100,000 yen a month at this part time job."

E.g. 準備じゅんびにかけられる時間じかんはせいぜい三日みっかでしょう。 "I guess the longest we can spend on getting ready is three days."

E.g. 新あたらしいドーナツは、週末しゅうまつでも売うれてせいぜい50個こだ。 "As for the new donuts, even on the weekend, the most we are able to sell is 50."

せいぜい is most commonly used in both casual and polite spoken scenarios.

In some specific contexts, せいぜい can sound sarcastic in tone.

E.g. せいぜい頑張がんばって。 "Do your best." (potentially sarcastic)

Summary

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  せいぜい is an adverb

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  せいぜい means "at most; at best; the longest" or "to the utmost; as much as possible".