placeholder
noun
place·hold·er
ˈplās-ˌhōl-dər 
plural placeholders
1
: a person or thing that occupies the position or place of another person or thing
The bill would empower the governor to appoint a placeholder to a vacant U.S. Senate seat, to serve through the next general election cycle.—
John Sharp
John SharpThe result was that the legislation represented little more than a placeholder to put the budget before a conference committee …—Carl Ingram
Carl Ingram2
: a symbol in a mathematical or logical expression that may be replaced by the name of any element of a set
3
American football
: a player who places and holds the ball upright on the ground for placekicking of a field goal
Examples of placeholder in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The first number is dust resistance from 0 to 6, and if the product is not rated to withstand dust there’s an X as a placeholder.
—Ashley Thess, Outdoor Life, 14 Nov. 2024
Until the real turkey makes its way from the oven to the table, this resin turkey is the perfect placeholder.
—Kaitlin Gates, Southern Living, 1 Nov. 2024
Keep any details, guidelines, examples, variables, or placeholders provided by the user.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes, 16 Oct. 2024
But Marvel did put three new generic placeholder dates — February 18, 2028, May 5, 2028, and November 10, 2028 — on its release calendar on Tuesday.
—Brian Welk, IndieWire, 22 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for placeholder 
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Ashley Thess, Outdoor Life, 14 Nov. 2024
Until the real turkey makes its way from the oven to the table, this resin turkey is the perfect placeholder.
—Kaitlin Gates, Southern Living, 1 Nov. 2024
Keep any details, guidelines, examples, variables, or placeholders provided by the user.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes, 16 Oct. 2024
But Marvel did put three new generic placeholder dates — February 18, 2028, May 5, 2028, and November 10, 2028 — on its release calendar on Tuesday.
—Brian Welk, IndieWire, 22 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for placeholder
Dictionary Entries Near placeholder
Cite this Entry
“Placeholder.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/placeholder. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
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placeholder
noun
place·hold·er
ˈplās-ˌhōl-dər
: a symbol used in mathematics in the place of a numeral not yet known
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