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

Alex Bregman went 3 for 4 with a home run, triple, double and four RBIs, and Crow-Armstrong added an RBI triple as the Cubs stayed a half-game ahead of the Phillies for the first NL wild card. — CBS News, 17 Sep. 2026

Whichever team doesn't win the division could still make the playoffs as a wild card. — ABC News, 16 Sep. 2026

As of right now, Cleveland is still the last wild card, but the lead is just one game over Toronto and two games over the Rangers. — Ken Rosenthal, New York Times, 14 Sep. 2026

Jarren Duran hit his 20th homer, a solo shot, to spark a four-run second inning for Boston, which improved to an MLB-best 34-17 since the All-Star break and closed to two games behind the Yankees for the American League’s top-wild card spot. — Los Angeles Times, 7 Sep. 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