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

Who shows up is a wild card because independents and some groups critical to both parties are not fired up. —Domenico Montanaro, NPR, 6 May 2026

In Asia, there are more wild cards, GasBuddy’s De Haan said. —Jordan Blum, Fortune, 6 May 2026

Should Boston’s top defenders shut Ottawa’s top line down, the Charge have other options in Gabbie Hughes and Fanuza Kadirova, who entered the league as a wild card from a Russian women’s hockey league and finished third on the team in goals. —Hailey Salvian, New York Times, 30 Apr. 2026

The Cubs and Reds also made the playoffs as wild cards. —Jay Cohen, Chicago Tribune, 28 Apr. 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