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
All those names are current placeholders of a roster spot but would be in jeopardy if someone gets drafted at their position.
—Joe Buscaglia, New York Times, 25 Apr. 2025
Of this enormous slice of the universe's matter and energy budget, dark energy — the placeholder name for the force causing the expansion of the universe to accelerate — accounts for around 70%.
—Robert Lea, Space.com, 15 Apr. 2025
Tammy McLeod, a competitive player who won The Philadelphia Inquirer’s national championship of the game in 2009, suggested that the numbers were mere placeholders to give solvers a common language for elements of the puzzle.
—Elie Levine, New York Times, 28 Mar. 2025
The Frick’s first renovation plan, from 2014, would have swallowed up Page’s garden, which had been installed as a temporary placeholder for future expansion and which the public couldn’t access anyway.
—Justin Davidson, Curbed, 25 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for placeholder
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Joe Buscaglia, New York Times, 25 Apr. 2025
Of this enormous slice of the universe's matter and energy budget, dark energy — the placeholder name for the force causing the expansion of the universe to accelerate — accounts for around 70%.
—Robert Lea, Space.com, 15 Apr. 2025
Tammy McLeod, a competitive player who won The Philadelphia Inquirer’s national championship of the game in 2009, suggested that the numbers were mere placeholders to give solvers a common language for elements of the puzzle.
—Elie Levine, New York Times, 28 Mar. 2025
The Frick’s first renovation plan, from 2014, would have swallowed up Page’s garden, which had been installed as a temporary placeholder for future expansion and which the public couldn’t access anyway.
—Justin Davidson, Curbed, 25 Mar. 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 5 May. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
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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