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
That wild card may be the genre’s relationship with audiences.
—
Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 17 Mar. 2026
Kansas City was holding its own for the most part last season and were aiming to make the playoffs as a wild card team before Mahomes suffered a season-ending knee injury.
—Ryan Gaydos, FOXNews.com, 17 Mar. 2026
Graf and Celebrini had three points each Saturday as the Sharks earned a 4-2 win over the Canadiens to move into the second wild card spot in the Western Conference.
—Curtis Pashelka, Mercury News, 15 Mar. 2026
Of course, fans at the Miami Open will be excited to see the sport’s biggest stars, including Djokovic, Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula and legend Venus Williams, who was invited as a wild card.
—Miami Herald, 13 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for wild card
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.
Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 17 Mar. 2026
Kansas City was holding its own for the most part last season and were aiming to make the playoffs as a wild card team before Mahomes suffered a season-ending knee injury.
—Ryan Gaydos, FOXNews.com, 17 Mar. 2026
Graf and Celebrini had three points each Saturday as the Sharks earned a 4-2 win over the Canadiens to move into the second wild card spot in the Western Conference.
—Curtis Pashelka, Mercury News, 15 Mar. 2026
Of course, fans at the Miami Open will be excited to see the sport’s biggest stars, including Djokovic, Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula and legend Venus Williams, who was invited as a wild card.
—Miami Herald, 13 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for wild card
Cite this Entry
“Wild card.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wild%20card. Accessed 20 Mar. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
