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

Here is a quick glimpse at who could stay and who could go as Verbeek, a wild card among GMs who favors the unconventional, assesses his group ahead of the deadline. —Andrew Knoll, Oc Register, 3 Mar. 2026

With the win, the Sharks (29-25-4) moved to within three points of the idle Seattle Kraken for the second wild card spot in the Western Conference. —Curtis Pashelka, Mercury News, 2 Mar. 2026

Mahan’s a centrist wild card who jumped into the race while the polling was underway. —Los Angeles Times, 2 Mar. 2026

Each round is decided by a head-to-head battle, with the infamous Randomizer wheel determining the required ingredients, cooking style, equipment and wild card element. —Eva Remijan-Toba, Chicago Tribune, 1 Mar. 2026

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