wild card

or wild·card

[ wahyld-kahrd ]

noun

1. Cards. a card having its value decided by the wishes of the players.
2. a determining or important person or thing whose qualities are unknown, indeterminate, or unpredictable:

   In a sailboat race the weather is the wild card.

3. Sports. an unranked or unproven player or team that is allowed to enter a tournament after regularly qualifying competitors have been selected:

   The committee added several retired champions as wild cards in the tennis championships.

4. Digital Technology. a symbol in a search parameter, usually the asterisk or question mark, that will retrieve all results for another character or other characters in its position:

   The file search is case-sensitive, and wildcards are not supported.

wild card

noun

1. See wild
   See wild
2. sport a player or team that has not qualified for a competition but is allowed to take part, at the organizers' discretion, after all the regular places have been taken
3. an unpredictable element in a situation
4. computing a symbol that can represent any character or group of characters, as in a filename

Word History and Origins

Origin of wild card¹

First recorded in 1530–40

Idioms and Phrases

An unpredictable person or event, as in Don't count on his support—he's a wild card , or A traffic jam? That's a wild card we didn't expect . This expression comes from card games, especially poker, where it refers to a card that can stand for any rank chosen by the player who holds it. The term was adopted in sports for an additional player or team chosen to take part in a contest after the regular places have been taken. It is also used in computer terminology for a symbol that stands for one or more characters in searches for files that share a common specification. Its figurative use dates from the mid-1900s.

Example Sentences

Even though the team finished 11-5, it entered the playoffs as a wild card that seemingly needed more time together to compete with more polished contenders.

From Washington Post

The other wild card is whether precipitation changes to a wintry mix or even rain and freezing rain after a period of accumulating snow.

From Washington Post

The Bears reached the playoffs as a wild card after going 8-8 during the regular season.

From Washington Post

The fifth-seeded Ravens reached the playoffs as a wild card, clinching their spot last Sunday on the final day of the regular season.

From Washington Post

The president has been a wild card almost every budget battle for the past four years, and he may still be one in his final weeks in office.

From Washington Post

While Collins lost this match, her $9,100 total was enough to earn a Wild Card and advance.

From The Daily Beast

I was rooting for the Yankees to not make the wild card as much as I was rooting for the Red Sox to win it all.

From The Daily Beast

The only wild-card is the Secretary of State John Kerry, who is said to be "obsessed" with the issue.

From The Daily Beast

The centrist, pro-guns Halvorson certainly would seem a wild card.

From The Daily Beast

Graham is Kapur's wild card, especially because Graham does face reelection in 2014.

From The Daily Beast

There was one time a tailor, and he was a wild card, always going to sprees.

From Project Gutenberg