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

ˈwī(-ə)l(d)-ˌkärd 

: 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

That kept the Mets a half-game ahead of the Reds for the third and final National League wild card spot. —Peter Sblendorio, New York Daily News, 16 Aug. 2025

If the Cubs come up short in those five games at Wrigley Field next week, the focus has to turn to maintaining a wild card spot. —Jared Wyllys, Forbes.com, 15 Aug. 2025

Before Friday’s game against the division-leading Tigers, Minnesota was fourth in the Central, 13 games out of first place and seven games out of the third and final wild card spot. —John Shipley, Twin Cities, 15 Aug. 2025

New York is clinging to the final wild card spot in the National League. —Tyler Everett, MSNBC Newsweek, 14 Aug. 2025

Word History

Etymology

wild card, playing card with arbitrarily determined value

First Known Use

1971, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for wild card

• asgard
• backyard
• barnyard
• blackguard
• bombard
• brickyard
• canard
• churchyard
• coastguard
• courtyard
• debarred
• diehard