wild card
noun
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 wildcard
: a symbol (such 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 in a Sentence
The joker is a wild card.
Taxes are the wild card in this election.
The team made it into the play-offs as the wild card.
Recent Examples on the Web
One of the biggest wild cards heading to Park City with an eye to acquire films out of Sundance this year doesn’t even have a name yet.
—
Brian Welk, IndieWire, 20 Jan. 2026
The Texans became a dark horse Super Bowl candidate and won their wild card-round postseason game last week because of their remarkably stingy defense.
—Andrew Greif, NBC news, 19 Jan. 2026
The Seahawks also gained an eight-day rest advantage as the 49ers forged ahead as a sixth-seed wild card, which rallied to win its playoff opener 23-19 at Philadelphia against the defending champion Eagles.
—Cam Inman, Mercury News, 18 Jan. 2026
The seven teams competing in each conference are the four division winners and the three wild card teams with the best regular-season records.
—Julianna Duennes Russ, Austin American Statesman, 18 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for wild card
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Brian Welk, IndieWire, 20 Jan. 2026
The Texans became a dark horse Super Bowl candidate and won their wild card-round postseason game last week because of their remarkably stingy defense.
—Andrew Greif, NBC news, 19 Jan. 2026
The Seahawks also gained an eight-day rest advantage as the 49ers forged ahead as a sixth-seed wild card, which rallied to win its playoff opener 23-19 at Philadelphia against the defending champion Eagles.
—Cam Inman, Mercury News, 18 Jan. 2026
The seven teams competing in each conference are the four division winners and the three wild card teams with the best regular-season records.
—Julianna Duennes Russ, Austin American Statesman, 18 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for wild card
Cite this Entry
“Wild card.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wild%20card. Accessed 22 Jan. 2026.
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