Definition of "checkered" []

• Divided into squares. (adjective)
• Marked by light and dark patches; diversified in color. (adjective)
• Marked by great changes or shifts in fortune: a checkered career. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "You can be sure that the term checkered history will be trotted out for virtually every participant in this story."
• "It looks boring, I don't want to turn darker than I already am, and I don't look good in checkered pants."
• "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."