checkered

[ chek-erd ]

adjective

1. marked by numerous and various shifts or changes; variegated:

   a checkered career.

   Synonyms: seesaw, irregular, uneven, varied

2. marked by dubious episodes; suspect in character or quality:

   a checkered past.

3. marked with squares:

   a checkered fabric.

4. diversified in color; alternately light and shadowed:

   the checkered shade beneath trees.

Other Words From

• un·checkered adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of checkered¹

1350–1400; Middle English. See checker ¹, -ed ²

Example Sentences

The field of dreams is nothing if not a place for players with checkered pasts who nonetheless can’t let the game go.

From FiveThirtyEight

A small bearded man, Coccia turned up in a blue suit and blue checkered tie, completely inappropriate attire for the outdoors, even though we had agreed that we would take a walk in the forest together.

From Nautilus

Dysregulation isn’t the only psych term with a checkered past definition that Kennedy uses in a lighter, more evolved way.

From Time

It is well past time for medicine’s checkered past to give way to a future where the fabric of women’s experience is recognized and respected in its entirety.

From Time

Surveillance technologies and the San Diego border have a checkered history.

From Voice of San Diego

On a “warm up session,” he can be seen donning a checkered shirt and baseball hat atop his bushy ponytail.

From The Daily Beast

Your character has a great look, with the short bob and the checkered dress.

From The Daily Beast

He started out with a mixed, checkered record [and] seemed to be ready to build a good relationship with the West.

From The Daily Beast

Although it should be noted that Feldman does have a checkered past.

From The Daily Beast

In a video uploaded to YouTube, a young man, wearing a checkered keffiyeh over his face, said he was a Svoboda member.

From The Daily Beast

In short, the news was exactly of that checkered order which was calculated to put us all in the highest spirits.

From Project Gutenberg

She sat all alone, plucking nervously at the red-and-white checkered tablecloth.

From Project Gutenberg

Together we rejoiced at the escape of Sill and Lamson, and made merry over the vicissitudes of my checkered career.

From Project Gutenberg

The ground is checkered with flakes of sunlight that fall through the leaves, and over all is the silence of the summer noon.

From Project Gutenberg

Here the merry chase had swept the hills; here revelry and pageantry had checkered a life of fierce strife and haughty oppression.

From Project Gutenberg