checkerboard

noun

check·​er·​board ˈche-kər-ˌbȯrd How to pronounce checkerboard (audio)
1
: a board used in various games (such as checkers) with usually 64 squares in 2 alternating colors
2
: something that has a pattern or arrangement like a checkerboard

Examples of checkerboard in a Sentence

The fields formed a checkerboard of light and dark squares.
Recent Examples on the Web Both siblings wore matching blue-and-white checkerboard pajamas, which featured smiley faces and rock n' roll tongues. Hannah Sacks, Peoplemag, 27 Feb. 2024 While Danish pastel, checkerboard rugs, and softer hues dominated 2023, Dazey thinks the trend is likely to turn to the darker side. Bryce Jones, Better Homes & Gardens, 5 Jan. 2024 Upstairs at the downtown facility, Kramer and other volunteers met with a group of men sitting with guitars around a table painted with a checkerboard surface. Steve Appleford, Rolling Stone, 17 Feb. 2024 The butcher shop next door is also a restaurant, small and quaint, like a New York bistro, with checkerboard tablecloths and a menu of sandwiches and sides. Malcolm Mayhew, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 31 Jan. 2024 Onstage, Reich was confronted not by the usual crowd primed with cocktails but by an enormous flat-screen monitor, which displayed thirty-odd homebound viewers in a checkerboard of Zoom squares. Rebecca Mead, The New Yorker, 8 Dec. 2023 In focusing on the Wild West, the musician/designer reinvented the cowboy aesthetic, adding the brand’s cult and glam motifs such as the Damier checkerboard pattern and the LV symbol, reinterpreted in a Buffalo Check and Monogram Cowboy key. Pino Gagliardi, The Hollywood Reporter, 22 Jan. 2024 This one-time use disposable camera takes 17 photos and features a trendy checkerboard design. Erika Reals, Peoplemag, 12 Dec. 2023 Part of the Navajo Reservation has small plots of land on a grid that are a mix of tribal, government and private property, making up what is known as the checkerboard system. Kate Holland, ABC News, 7 Dec. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'checkerboard.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1775, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of checkerboard was in 1775

Dictionary Entries Near checkerboard

Cite this Entry

“Checkerboard.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/checkerboard. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

checkerboard

noun
check·​er·​board -ˌbō(ə)rd How to pronounce checkerboard (audio)
-ˌbȯ(ə)rd
: a board used in games and marked with 64 squares in two colors

More from Merriam-Webster on checkerboard

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