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
The characters are like those in a deck of wild cards designed by Salvador Dalí, but somehow the game Ionesco prepares never takes off here.
—
Theater Critic, Los Angeles Times, 13 May 2026
From a wild card perspective, hope springs eternal.
—Dan Freedman, Forbes.com, 9 May 2026
It was said by many that Cox saved one of his best managing jobs ‘til last, leading the Braves to the NL wild card and their first postseason appearance since 2005 despite numerous injuries including the loss of Jones for the season, April 10, with a torn ACL.
—Bill Madden, New York Daily News, 9 May 2026
San Jose finished the season with a record of 39-35-8 for 86 points, four points behind the Los Angeles Kings for the second and final wild card spot in the Western Conference.
—Curtis Pashelka, Mercury News, 8 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for wild card
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Theater Critic, Los Angeles Times, 13 May 2026
From a wild card perspective, hope springs eternal.
—Dan Freedman, Forbes.com, 9 May 2026
It was said by many that Cox saved one of his best managing jobs ‘til last, leading the Braves to the NL wild card and their first postseason appearance since 2005 despite numerous injuries including the loss of Jones for the season, April 10, with a torn ACL.
—Bill Madden, New York Daily News, 9 May 2026
San Jose finished the season with a record of 39-35-8 for 86 points, four points behind the Los Angeles Kings for the second and final wild card spot in the Western Conference.
—Curtis Pashelka, Mercury News, 8 May 2026
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 15 May. 2026.
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