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

He would later be diagnosed with a concussion and miss the final three games of the season, including a 34-31 loss to the Bills in a wild card playoff game. —Miami Herald, 9 Mar. 2026

Today, insurance has become a wild card that is blowing up escrows across the state. —Mike Garcia, Oc Register, 9 Mar. 2026

The Sharks finished the homestand with a 3-1-2 record, and entered Sunday one point behind the Seattle Kraken for the Western Conference’s second wild card spot and two points behind the Edmonton Oilers for third place in the Pacific Division. —Curtis Pashelka, Mercury News, 8 Mar. 2026

The 45-year-old Williams, who has lost her last eight WTA matches, received a wild card into the singles and doubles draws for the tournament in the Southern California desert. —Los Angeles Times, 6 Mar. 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