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checkered
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
checkered
adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
checkered flag
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ On top of a red-and-white checkered tablecloth were two of the best plates, cups and saucers.
▪ People living within walking distance of the track decorate their houses for the family cookout with checkered flags and banners.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Checkered

Checker \Check"er\ (ch[e^]k"[~e]r), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Checkered (ch[e^]k"[~e]rd); p. pr. & vb. n. Checkering.] [From OF. eschequier a chessboard, F. ['e]chiquier. See Check, n., and cf. 3d Checker.]

  1. To mark with small squares like a checkerboard, as by crossing stripes of different colors.

  2. To variegate or diversify with different qualities, colors, scenes, or events; esp., to subject to frequent alternations of prosperity and adversity.

    Our minds are, as it were, checkered with truth and falsehood.
    --Addison.

Checkered

Checkered \Check"ered\ (ch[e^]k"[~e]rd), a.

  1. Marked with alternate squares or checks of different color or material.

    Dancing in the checkered shade.
    --Milton.

  2. Diversified or variegated in a marked manner, as in appearance, character, circumstances, etc.; as, a character with a checkered past

    This checkered narrative.
    --Macaulay.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
checkered

late 14c., past participle adjective from checker (v.). Checkered past attested by 1831.

Wiktionary
checkered
  1. 1 Divided into squares, or into light and dark patches. 2 changeable; inconsistent; having variations or uncertainty. v

  2. (en-past of: checker)

WordNet
checkered
  1. adj. patterned with alternating squares of color [syn: checked, chequered]

  2. marked by changeable fortune; "a checkered business career"

Wikipedia

Usage examples of "checkered".

A chicken leg, a meat pasty, half of a baguette, a large chunk of ripe cheese, and a strawberry tart nestled in the checkered napkin beside a bottle of lemonade.

As he unwound the checkered kaffiyeh from his face, they could see he was an American.

Lou would go inside to inspect the plates and bowls and make sure they were lined up on the checkered tablecloth, four squares from the edge, and sometimes when they were only three and a half squares from the edge or there was still a dot of grease on the rim of a melamine plate Stephen would listen to the slaps and the whimpers from inside the house as he lay on his back beside the fire and watched the sparks fly toward the dead moon.

Kadagidi themselves had their doubts about Murini, whose rise within his own clan had been checkered with double-dealing and a far greater affinity for the politics of the south coast than those of the Padi Valley.

I should say a lawn of two different varieties of grass, one pale green, one very dark, and the two seeded in alternate smaller squares, in a checkered effect.

The bewtifull and precious Pauement within a checkered compasse going about the same, there was a space of sixtie foure Squadrates of three foote, the dyameter of euerye one: Of the which one was of Iasper, of the colour of Corall, and the other greene, powdered with drops of blood not to bee woorne away: and set togither in manner of a Chesse-boord.

In this, he had made amends for the checkered career of his sire, King Wauk, who had involved himself in matters beyond his abilities with disastrous results.

He still wore jeans and the checkered sneakers but had donned a leather Viking tunic on top, belted at the waist.

While Cerf and Crocker were academic stars, Postel, who was twenty-five, had had a more checkered academic career.

Like other places in the Regrade, the Rendezvous has a checkered past.

Estelle Spangler was face up, with a yellow checkered tea towel over her eyes.

Then she slapped the draughts board down where her plate had been and with shaking fingers began setting the pieces on the checkered board for a new game.

However, she was willing to guess that he was most likely male, white, over thirty, of average to above-average intelligence, nonpsychotic, probably compulsive and perfectionistic, presenting a neat, clean, unremarkable appearance, probably employed at the present, though possibly with an inconsistent or checkered job history.

She pushes away her half-eaten yellowfin tuna and folds her hands on top of the checkered tablecloth.

It was hard for him to imagine the bad guys way up in northern New England, wearing those checkered caps and down vests as they chomped their pepper sandwiches and drank their Ruffino.