Word.ws English Dictionary

variegated

UK/ˈvɛəɹi.əˌɡeɪtɪd//ˈvɛ(ə)ɹi.əˌɡeɪtɪd/

variegated adjective: streaked, spotted, or otherwise marked with a variety of color. Also the simple past and past participle of variegate.

Adjective

variegated (comparative more variegated, superlative most variegated)

  1. Streaked, spotted, or otherwise marked with a variety of color.
    • 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.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
    • 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.1886, Peter Christen Asbjø￵rnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 279
  2. (broadly) Very colorful.
    Synonyms:
    motley, multicolored, polychromatic, aurora-colored (US) / aurora-coloured, colorful (US) / colourful, colorific, discolored [⇒ thesaurus] (US, obsolete) / discoloured, kaleidoscopic, many-coloured
  3. (broadly) Varied, heterogeneous, motley
    • The challenge to heterosexuality requires that we claim, not deny, our queer character. It's sexual, it's variegated, sometimetimes its messy and, for better or worse, it's ours.1996 September, “No Double Standard”, in Gay Community News, page 4

Also used as

variegated is also the simple past and past participle of variegate.

variegated meaning in Sanskrit, Tagalog and Arabic

variegated in Sanskrit

streaked or spotted with a variety of colours
शर्वर śarvara, पृषत् pṛṣat

variegated in Tagalog

streaked or spotted with a variety of colours
kabang

variegated in Arabic

streaked or spotted with a variety of colours
أَرْقَش ʔarqaš

Examples of variegated in a sentence

  • The grufted, gimcracky chateau was constructed with variegated stone block walls, oak floors, and a slate roof.
  • It may include bright foliage which can be variegated with gold or silver color.
  • For those customers she recommends shrubs, especially broad-leaved evergreens like skimmia, aucuba, and variegated leucothoe.

All 12 example sentences with variegated

Synonyms of variegated

17 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of variegated

Forms of variegated

comparativemore variegated
superlativemost variegated

Origin of variegated

From variegate + -ed.

Words formed from variegated

Phrases with variegated

Questions about variegated

What does variegated mean?
Variegated means streaked, spotted, or otherwise marked with a variety of color.
What is variegated in Sanskrit?
Variegated in Sanskrit is शर्वर (śarvara), पृषत् (pṛṣat). See Variegated meaning in Sanskrit.
What part of speech is variegated?
Variegated is an adjective.
How do you pronounce variegated?
Variegated is pronounced /ˈvɛəɹi.əˌɡeɪtɪd/ (UK).

Words near variegated in the dictionary

  1. varied tit
  2. varied tits
  3. variedly
  4. variedness
  5. variegate
  6. variegated
  7. variegated coffee bug
  8. variegated coffee bugs
  9. variegated fairywren
  10. variegated fairywrens
  11. variegated horsetail

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: variegated (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-variegated.ogg.

Cite this entry: “variegated.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/variegated. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.