wild card

noun

: an unknown or unpredictable factor

: one picked to fill a leftover playoff or tournament berth after regularly qualifying competitors have all been determined

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

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

The Blue Jackets entered the midseason break in contention for a wild card spot. —

Andrew King, Axios, 13 Feb. 2025 The Mets ended up going 89-73 and did indeed earn the third wild card spot. —

Peter Sblendorio, New York Daily News, 3 Feb. 2025 The Rangers are 13th in the Eastern conference, five points behind the Columbus Blue Jackets for the second wild card spot. —

Ryan Canfield, Fox News, 1 Feb. 2025 What fans want is pretty simple: Be competitive for the lowest wild card spot in September. —

Dp Opinion, The Denver Post, 31 Jan. 2025 See all Example Sentences for wild card