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

The veteran was something of a wild card in Bruins’ management’s efforts to stay afloat in the playoff race while still performing a rebuild. —Steve Conroy, Boston Herald, 25 Oct. 2025

Lizze’s a wild card, and that’s the best possible situation to be in as an actor. —Abbey White, HollywoodReporter, 22 Oct. 2025

The Boston Red Sox were watching the American League Championship Series from home after a disappointing wild card exit against the New York Yankees. —Peter Chawaga, MSNBC Newsweek, 21 Oct. 2025

Then there's generative AI—the digital wild card to trump them all. —John Wihbey, Time, 20 Oct. 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