wild card

wild card

noun

Definition of WILD CARD

1

: an unknown or unpredictable factor

2

: one picked to fill a leftover playoff or tournament berth after regularly qualifying competitors have all been determined

3

usually wild·card : a symbol (as ? or *) used in a keyword database search to represent the presence of zero, one, or more than one unspecified characters

Examples of WILD CARD

1. The joker is a wild card.
2. Taxes are the wild card in this election.
3. The team made it into the play-offs as the wild card.

Origin of WILD CARD

wild card, playing card with arbitrarily determined value

First Known Use: 1971

Rhymes with WILD CARD

Asgard, backyard, barnyard, blackguard, blowhard, boatyard, bombard, boneyard, brassard, brickyard, charge card, churchyard, cloth yard, coast guard, courtyard, dance card, deeryard, die-hard, diehard, discard, dockyard, dooryard, face card, farmyard, fireguard, flash card, foulard, Fugard, Gerard, graveyard, green card, ill-starred, jacquard, junkyard, lifeguard, main yard, mansard, mass card, Midgard, milliard, mudguard, noseguard, off guard, old guard, on guard, Oxnard, phone card, Picard, placard, point guard, postcard, poularde, punch card, rear guard, rearguard, Red Guard, regard, retard, ritard, safeguard, scorecard, shipyard, smart card, sound card, spikenard, steelyard, stockyard, switchyard, tabard, tanyard, tiltyard, time card, unbarred, unguard, vizard