1.
thing; article; piece of goods
Refers to an item or thing, often with a judgmental or evaluative nuance. Frequently used in negative or critical contexts to describe something of questionable quality or character.
とんでもない代物だ。
It's an outrageous piece of work.
これはなかなかの代物だね。
This is quite something, isn't it?
安いだけあって、かなりひどい代物をつかまされた。
Being cheap, I ended up getting stuck with a pretty terrible piece of junk.
Almost always carries an evaluative tone — the speaker is passing judgment on the quality or nature of the item. Most commonly used in negative contexts (ひどい代物, とんでもない代物), but can also express impressed surprise (なかなかの代物).
Not interchangeable with neutral words like 物 or 品物, which lack this judgmental nuance.
COMMON PATTERNS:
- とんでもない代物 — an outrageous thing
- なかなかの代物 — quite an impressive thing
- ひどい代物 — a terrible piece of junk
- 大した代物ではない — nothing special