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
: 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
But the labor market remains a wild card, Goldman Sachs analysts said in a research report.
—
Aimee Picchi, CBS News, 8 Dec. 2025
The Texas-Chiefs Sunday Night Football game is massive for the AFC wild card race.
—Tyler Everett, MSNBC Newsweek, 7 Dec. 2025
At 6-6, Kansas City sits 10th in the AFC, trailing the Pittsburgh Steelers (6-6), Houston Texans (7-5) and Buffalo Bills (8-4) for the final wild card spot.
—Andy Scholes, CNN Money, 4 Dec. 2025
Still, there are some real wild cards in there.
—Christian Allaire, Vogue, 4 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for wild card
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Aimee Picchi, CBS News, 8 Dec. 2025
The Texas-Chiefs Sunday Night Football game is massive for the AFC wild card race.
—Tyler Everett, MSNBC Newsweek, 7 Dec. 2025
At 6-6, Kansas City sits 10th in the AFC, trailing the Pittsburgh Steelers (6-6), Houston Texans (7-5) and Buffalo Bills (8-4) for the final wild card spot.
—Andy Scholes, CNN Money, 4 Dec. 2025
Still, there are some real wild cards in there.
—Christian Allaire, Vogue, 4 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for wild card
Cite this Entry
“Wild card.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wild%20card. Accessed 10 Dec. 2025.
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