What does wildcard mean

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The word in the example sentence does not match the entry word. The sentence contains offensive content. Cancel Submit. Your feedback will be reviewed. According to Collins Dictionary , a wildcard is:. If you refer to someone or something as a wild card in a particular situation, you mean that they cause uncertainty because you do not know how they will behave. If a sports player is given a wild card for a particular competition, they are allowed to play in it, although they have not qualified for it in the usual way.

You can also use wild card to refer to a player who enters a competition in this way. The card table profitably occupies some six to eight hours daily of these old fellows' attention. In most club card-rooms smoking is not permitted, but at the Pandemonium it is the fashion to smoke everywhere. He showed his wisdom in giving the Pandemonium card-room a very wide berth for the rest of his days.

He has drawn a knave and a six; he takes another card; this turns out to be an ace. 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. She is not like all the other girls , she's different. She's a wildcard. March 19, In poker, a card which can be assigned any value the cardholder wishes. An factor affecting events in an unknown or unpredictable fashion.

In sports, usually a playoff spot available to a team that does not finish first in their division or league.