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
John SharpThe result was that the legislation represented little more than a placeholder to put the budget before a conference committee …—Carl Ingram
Carl Ingram2
: 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
Flacco was signed in the offseason to be an experienced placeholder while Cleveland evaluated its pair of rookie quarterbacks.
—Andrew Greif, NBC news, 17 Oct. 2025
Instead, they were told the $100,000 allocation to the rodeo in their 2024-25 promotional budget was just a placeholder and that Clodfelter had pledged to find the funds elsewhere if CountryFest ever needed the money.
—Douglas Hanks, Miami Herald, 17 Oct. 2025
On the internet, such a placeholder for nothing will, over a period of time — and in the instance of this meme, very little time — become meaningful.
—Kevin Dolak, HollywoodReporter, 16 Oct. 2025
The upside is New Orleans quarterback Spencer Rattler, a former fifth-round pick, is nothing more than a placeholder for a rebuilding franchise.
—Andrew Callahan, Boston Herald, 11 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for placeholder
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Andrew Greif, NBC news, 17 Oct. 2025
Instead, they were told the $100,000 allocation to the rodeo in their 2024-25 promotional budget was just a placeholder and that Clodfelter had pledged to find the funds elsewhere if CountryFest ever needed the money.
—Douglas Hanks, Miami Herald, 17 Oct. 2025
On the internet, such a placeholder for nothing will, over a period of time — and in the instance of this meme, very little time — become meaningful.
—Kevin Dolak, HollywoodReporter, 16 Oct. 2025
The upside is New Orleans quarterback Spencer Rattler, a former fifth-round pick, is nothing more than a placeholder for a rebuilding franchise.
—Andrew Callahan, Boston Herald, 11 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for placeholder
Cite this Entry
“Placeholder.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/placeholder. Accessed 6 Nov. 2025.
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placeholder
noun
place·hold·er
ˈplās-ˌhōl-dər
: a symbol used in mathematics in the place of a numeral not yet known
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