checkered flag
Americannoun
-
a flag having a pattern of black and white squares, used to signal that a car has crossed the finish line and completed its race.
-
this signal indicating the first car to cross the finish line or the winner.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
No active driver has won at Long Beach more often Rossi or Kirkwood, who also took the checkered flag in 2023.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 16, 2026
In a matter of 10 seconds, he had launched himself from third to first—and straight to the checkered flag.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 3, 2026
“Well,” Verstappen said after taking the checkered flag, “it’s all possible now.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 1, 2025
The sellout crowd, decked out primarily in gold checkered flag shirts featuring dozens of individual stamps of Indiana’s state outline as part of the Indianapolis 500 weekend celebration, helped inject energy with Haliburton out.
From Seattle Times • May 25, 2024
A checkered flag waves and our cars speed off, zipping down virtual city streets and jumping over police cars.
From "The Sky at Our Feet" by Nadia Hashimi
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
