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
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But through a connection with his label Now-Again Records, an indie label specializing in reissues and music for sampling, the track became the placeholder for Abbott Elementary, one of the few popular network sitcoms of the streaming era.
—Ethan Millman, Rolling Stone, 16 Jan. 2025
Among them is a placeholder bill introduced by Assemblyman Marc Berman, a Menlo Park Democrat, to speed up California’s notoriously slow vote count process, which stretched on for weeks this year.
—Grant Stringer, The Mercury News, 6 Jan. 2025
Sam Darnold was viewed as a mediocre placeholder when the Vikings signed him to a one-year, $10 million contract in the offseason.
—Steve Silverman, Forbes, 21 Nov. 2024
Addressed the following issues: Addressed instances of placeholder text, incorrect UI elements, incorrect camera angles, and button conflicts.
—Tommy Tuberville, Newsweek, 8 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for placeholder 
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Ethan Millman, Rolling Stone, 16 Jan. 2025
Among them is a placeholder bill introduced by Assemblyman Marc Berman, a Menlo Park Democrat, to speed up California’s notoriously slow vote count process, which stretched on for weeks this year.
—Grant Stringer, The Mercury News, 6 Jan. 2025
Sam Darnold was viewed as a mediocre placeholder when the Vikings signed him to a one-year, $10 million contract in the offseason.
—Steve Silverman, Forbes, 21 Nov. 2024
Addressed the following issues: Addressed instances of placeholder text, incorrect UI elements, incorrect camera angles, and button conflicts.
—Tommy Tuberville, Newsweek, 8 Jan. 2025
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 29 Jan. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
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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