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
Then there's generative AI—the digital wild card to trump them all.
—
John Wihbey, Time, 20 Oct. 2025
All that was left to sort was the jockeying for seeding, home-field advantage and avoiding the one-off wild card round between the 8 and 9 seeds.
—Avi Creditor, New York Times, 19 Oct. 2025
The Dodgers had to come through a wild card round against the Cincinnati Reds but are now 8-1 this postseason, their only loss coming against the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL Division Series.
—George Ramsay, CNN Money, 17 Oct. 2025
The San Diego Padres were bounced in the National League wild card round, and their season came to another disappointing end.
—Zach Pressnell, MSNBC Newsweek, 17 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for wild card
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
John Wihbey, Time, 20 Oct. 2025
All that was left to sort was the jockeying for seeding, home-field advantage and avoiding the one-off wild card round between the 8 and 9 seeds.
—Avi Creditor, New York Times, 19 Oct. 2025
The Dodgers had to come through a wild card round against the Cincinnati Reds but are now 8-1 this postseason, their only loss coming against the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL Division Series.
—George Ramsay, CNN Money, 17 Oct. 2025
The San Diego Padres were bounced in the National League wild card round, and their season came to another disappointing end.
—Zach Pressnell, MSNBC Newsweek, 17 Oct. 2025
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 Oct. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share