checkered

[ chek-erd ]
/ ˈtʃɛk ərd /

adjective

marked by numerous and various shifts or changes; variegated: a checkered career.
marked by dubious episodes; suspect in character or quality: a checkered past.
marked with squares: a checkered fabric.
diversified in color; alternately light and shadowed: the checkered shade beneath trees.

Origin of checkered

1350–1400; Middle English. See checker1, -ed2

OTHER WORDS FROM checkered

un·check·ered, adjective

Definition for checkered (2 of 2)

checker 1
[ chek-er ]
/ ˈtʃɛk ər /

noun

a small, usually red or black disk of plastic or wood, used in playing checkers.
checkers,
  1. Also called, British, draughts.(used with a singular verb) a game played by two persons, each with 12 playing pieces, on a checkerboard.
  2. (in a regenerative furnace) loosely stacked brickwork through which furnace gases and incoming air are passed in turn, so that the heat of the exhaust is absorbed and later transferred to the incoming air.
a checkered pattern.
one of the squares of a checkered pattern.

verb (used with object)

Also British, che·quer.

Origin of checker

1
1250–1300; Middle English checker chessboard < Anglo-French escheker (by aphesis), equivalent to eschec check1 + -er -er2

Example sentences from the Web for checkered

British Dictionary definitions for checkered (1 of 2)

checker 1
/ (ˈtʃɛkə) /

noun, verb

the usual US spelling of chequer

noun

textiles a variant spelling of chequer (def. 2)
US and Canadian any one of the 12 flat thick discs used by each player in the game of checkers Also called (in Britain and certain other countries): draughtsman

British Dictionary definitions for checkered (2 of 2)

checker 2
/ (ˈtʃɛkə) /

noun mainly US and Canadian

a cashier, esp in a supermarket
an attendant in a cloakroom, left-luggage office, etc