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

Feels very placeholder-text, but whatever! —Jessica M. Goldstein, Vulture, 3 Sep. 2025

Beck said that the original specifications of Neutron were more of a placeholder design as the company worked to develop the medium-lift rocket. —Tariq Malik, Space.com, 29 Aug. 2025

Media holding statements must be pre-approved by legal and senior management, with placeholder sections ready in order to facilitate prompt updates as new information emerges. —Phillimon Zongo, Forbes.com, 19 Aug. 2025

The team went by the Utah Hockey Club as a placeholder name for 2024-25 after the Smiths purchased the hockey assets of the former Arizona Coyotes. —Jason Clinkscales, Sportico.com, 19 Aug. 2025

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