variegated

From variegate +‎ -ed.

• (General American) enPR: vârʹēəgā'tĭd, IPA^(key): /ˈveəɹɪəˌɡeɪtɪd/, /ˈvæɹi.əˌɡeɪtɪd/
• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: vârʹēəgā'tĭd, IPA^(key): /ˈveəɹɪəˌɡeɪtɪd/

• Audio (US):

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variegated (comparative more variegated, superlative most variegated)

1. Streaked, spotted, or otherwise marked with a variety of color.

   Synonyms: patterned; see also Thesaurus:marked

   • 1769, Firishta, translated by Alexander Dow, Tales translated from the Persian of Inatulla of Delhi, volume I, Dublin: P. and W. Wilson et al., page iii:

     There I beheld the painter of the year diſplaying his variegated fancies on his leafy tablets, and, with the pencil of power dipped in the æthereal bow, writing the leſſons of wiſdom divine on the fair forehead of blooming Nature.

   • 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 279:

     From the heights a view was now and then obtained between the lofty pine and fir-trees of the valley below with its smiling fields and variegated woods of birch and alder trees, between which the river wound like a narrow silvery streak.

2. (by extension) Very colorful.

   Synonyms: motley, multicolored, polychromatic; see also Thesaurus:multicolored

3. (by extension)
   • 1996 September, “No Double Standard”, in Gay Community News, page 4:

     The challenge to heterosexuality requires that we claim, not deny, our queeer character. It's sexual, it's variegated, sometimetimes its messy and, for better or worse, it's ours.

• variegate

variegated

1. simple past and past participle of variegate