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
However, the Senate is considering that a placeholder that will eventually be replaced with a different agreement.
—Riley Beggin, USA Today, 17 June 2025
The actress behind Charlotte York explained that the production had yet to finish a video montage of Big to project during the ceremony, so as a placeholder, the cast watched videos of animals.
—Wesley Stenzel, EW.com, 12 June 2025
The team has decided to present guests with narrow menus that fit neatly into a square gold placeholder Beran previously used to serve chips at Dialogue.
—Jenn Harris, Los Angeles Times, 12 June 2025
Treating images as performance media, not placeholders.
—Jehan Hamedi, Forbes.com, 9 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for placeholder
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Riley Beggin, USA Today, 17 June 2025
The actress behind Charlotte York explained that the production had yet to finish a video montage of Big to project during the ceremony, so as a placeholder, the cast watched videos of animals.
—Wesley Stenzel, EW.com, 12 June 2025
The team has decided to present guests with narrow menus that fit neatly into a square gold placeholder Beran previously used to serve chips at Dialogue.
—Jenn Harris, Los Angeles Times, 12 June 2025
Treating images as performance media, not placeholders.
—Jehan Hamedi, Forbes.com, 9 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for placeholder
Cite this Entry
“Placeholder.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/placeholder. Accessed 20 Jun. 2025.
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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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