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

Graziano has a major point in that the 5-5 Chiefs have a lot of work to do to even land a wild card spot in the highly competitive AFC. —James Brizuela, MSNBC Newsweek, 17 Nov. 2025

The Broncos to stay in the race for the division title and the Chiefs to stay alive in the race for a wild card spot. —Ryan Gaydos, FOXNews.com, 16 Nov. 2025

This year’s Oscar wild card, however, is something that’s been with us all year. —Joe Reid, Vulture, 14 Nov. 2025

Back with Evan — though not always on his side — were his best friend Gwen (Koenig), gym teacher Markie (Patton), wild card guidance counselor Rick (Christopher) and constantly terrified Principal Grant Moretti (Colantoni). —Nellie Andreeva, Deadline, 12 Nov. 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