placeholder

noun

place·​hold·​er ˈplās-ˌhōl-dər 

plural placeholders

1

: a person or thing that occupies the position or place of another person or thing

The bill would empower the governor to appoint a placeholder to a vacant U.S. Senate seat, to serve through the next general election cycle.

—John Sharp

The result was that the legislation represented little more than a placeholder to put the budget before a conference committee …

—Carl Ingram

2

: a symbol in a mathematical or logical expression that may be replaced by the name of any element of a set

3

American football : a player who places and holds the ball upright on the ground for placekicking of a field goal

Examples of placeholder in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Dark energy is the placeholder name given to whatever is driving this acceleration. —Robert Lea, Space.com, 26 Jan. 2026

Newsom hedges his bets by portraying the budget as a placeholder that covers little more than spending increases driven by law, inflation and caseload until more revenue data are received. —Dan Walters, Mercury News, 13 Jan. 2026

Newsom hedges his bets by portraying the budget as a placeholder that covers little more than spending increases driven by law, inflation and caseload until more revenue data are received. —Dan Walters, Oc Register, 12 Jan. 2026

But Sharpe forced himself into the conversation, not as a placeholder, but as a legitimate option who can swing games with effort and presence. —C.j. Holmes, New York Daily News, 8 Jan. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1927, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for placeholder

• officeholder
• beholder
• bondholder
• cardholder
• freeholder
• householder
• landholder
• leaseholder
• lienholder
• shareholder
• slaveholder
• smallholder

Kids Definition

placeholder

noun

place·​hold·​er ˈplās-ˌhōl-dər 

: a symbol used in mathematics in the place of a numeral not yet known