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
As with many pieces of legislation, former President Donald J. Trump is a wild card in the bill’s passage.
—
Lauren Hirsch, New York Times, 18 Apr. 2024
The winners all advance to the finals, which take place in November in Seville, Spain: 2023 champions Canada, 2023 runners-up Italy, host nation Spain, and wild card Czechia have already qualified for the 12-team event.
—Sean Gregory, TIME, 11 Apr. 2024
Embiid's seemingly imminent return has turned the Sixers into the NBA's biggest wild card heading into April.
—Bryan Toporek, Forbes, 30 Mar. 2024
One wild card: About one in 10 voters remained undecided as of last week.
—David Lightman, Sacramento Bee, 5 Mar. 2024
Schumaker is well regarded around baseball and was universally praised for guiding the Marlins to an 84-78 record and a wild card berth in 2023; Miami was quickly eliminated by Philadelphia in the first round.
—Jordan McPherson, Miami Herald, 9 Apr. 2024
Yet another factor is the movement of fluid within the Earth’s liquid inner core — a wild card that can either speed or slow how fast the Earth rotates, Agnew said.
—Evan Bush, NBC News, 27 Mar. 2024
But double haters are also a wild card for Trump, whose divisiveness turns many of them off.
—USA TODAY, 23 Mar. 2024
Minnesota entered the night six points behind Vegas for the final wild card in the Western Conference.
—Houston Mitchell, Los Angeles Times, 15 Mar. 2024
Lauren Hirsch, New York Times, 18 Apr. 2024
The winners all advance to the finals, which take place in November in Seville, Spain: 2023 champions Canada, 2023 runners-up Italy, host nation Spain, and wild card Czechia have already qualified for the 12-team event.
—Sean Gregory, TIME, 11 Apr. 2024
Embiid's seemingly imminent return has turned the Sixers into the NBA's biggest wild card heading into April.
—Bryan Toporek, Forbes, 30 Mar. 2024
One wild card: About one in 10 voters remained undecided as of last week.
—David Lightman, Sacramento Bee, 5 Mar. 2024
Schumaker is well regarded around baseball and was universally praised for guiding the Marlins to an 84-78 record and a wild card berth in 2023; Miami was quickly eliminated by Philadelphia in the first round.
—Jordan McPherson, Miami Herald, 9 Apr. 2024
Yet another factor is the movement of fluid within the Earth’s liquid inner core — a wild card that can either speed or slow how fast the Earth rotates, Agnew said.
—Evan Bush, NBC News, 27 Mar. 2024
But double haters are also a wild card for Trump, whose divisiveness turns many of them off.
—USA TODAY, 23 Mar. 2024
Minnesota entered the night six points behind Vegas for the final wild card in the Western Conference.
—Houston Mitchell, Los Angeles Times, 15 Mar. 2024
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'wild card.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Wild card.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wild%20card. Accessed 26 Apr. 2024.
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