Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Divided into squares.
- adjective Marked by light and dark patches; diversified in color.
- adjective Characterized by shifts in fortune or dishonorable acts.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Marked with squares or checkers, like a checker-board; exhibiting squares of different colors; hence, broken into different colors or into lights and shadows.
- Figuratively, variegated with different qualities, scenes, or events; crossed with good and bad fortune.
- Having the wing marked with numerous white spots, larger in size and fewer in number than in the condition termed spangled: used in describing breeds of pigeons.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Marked with alternate squares or checks of different color or material.
- adjective Diversified or variegated in a marked manner, as in appearance, character, circumstances, etc.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb Simple past tense and past participle of
checker . - adjective divided into
squares , or into light and darkpatches . - adjective
changeable ;inconsistent ; havingvariations oruncertainty
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective marked by changeable fortune
- adjective patterned with alternating squares of color
Etymologies
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Examples
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You can be sure that the term checkered history will be trotted out for virtually every participant in this story.
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You can be sure that the term checkered history will be trotted out for virtually every participant in this story.
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It looks boring, I don't want to turn darker than I already am, and I don't look good in checkered pants.
Archive 2004-06-01 Dean Francis Alfar 2004
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It looks boring, I don't want to turn darker than I already am, and I don't look good in checkered pants.
sundry Dean Francis Alfar 2004
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The story was that those economies with what one might call a checkered past would be put on the straight and narrow by Germany, which, for reasons of history, had a deep aversion to fiscal irresponsibility and high inflation.
Though a Debt-Default Would Hurt, Investors May Not Give Up on Greece Paul Hannon 2011
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That fritt is also called a checkered lily for those markings.
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After an undergraduate career that could charitably be described as checkered -- believe me, that is a charitable description -- I had been in the top ten of the class at the Michigan Law School, and had been looking for a job in a private law firm in Chicago, where I grew up.
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A 121-year-old white survivor of Custer's Last Stand recalls his checkered life with Cheyenne, Wild Bill Hickok and medicine shows.
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I thought it was interesting that part of Kenseth's comments after the race were apologetic but neither driver discussed in detail their so-called checkered past.
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"Earp" avoids Hollywood gloss, recalling his checkered past and his work as an enforcer for a prostitution ring.
slumry commented on the word checkered
A checkered past
July 12, 2007