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 big wild card is what kind of damage GOP ads will do to Platner over time. —Burgess Everett, semafor.com, 10 June 2026

Christian McCaffrey #23 of the San Francisco 49ers runs the ball during an NFL wild card playoff football game against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field on January 11, 2026 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. —CBS News, 9 June 2026

Cincinnati is in last place in the NL Central but just 2 1/2 games out of a wild card. —ABC News, 8 June 2026

One wild card, New York Mets infielder Bo Bichette. —Mac Cerullo, Boston Herald, 7 June 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