Phrase guide

wild card

noun · 6 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

No pronunciation record was provided for this word.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A card that can be assigned any value or used to substitute for any needed card.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: card-games, games

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A competitor or team that is allowed to compete in a tournament despite not reaching the normal standards to qualify for inclusion.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: hobbies, lifestyle, sports

Examples

  • Kye Sun-Hui won an Olympic gold medal in Judo, despite being a wild card.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

Alternative form of wildcard (“substituted text character”).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: alt-of, alternative

Topics: computing, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

Alternative form of wildcard (“symbol for a generic sound”).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: alt-of, alternative

Topics: human-sciences, linguistics, phonetics, phonology, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

a playing card whose value can be determined by the person who holds it

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: playing card

6

noun

Meaning 6

an unpredictable factor

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • the weather was a wild card

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: factor

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

23 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: жокер (žoker) — special card
  • Catalan: comodí — special card
  • Catalan: jòquer — special card
  • Chinese Mandarin: 赖子 (làizi) — special card
  • Finnish: jokeri — special card
  • French: joker — special card
  • German: Joker — special card
  • Hungarian: dzsóker — special card
  • Polish: dżoker — special card
  • Portuguese: curinga — special card
  • Portuguese: jóquer — special card
  • Romanian: joker — special card
  • Russian: джо́кер (džóker) — special card
  • Russian: ди́кая ка́рта (díkaja kárta) — special card
  • Spanish: comodín — special card
  • Swedish: joker — special card
  • Chinese Mandarin: 外卡 (wàikǎ) — competitor or team
  • Finnish: villi kortti — competitor or team
  • Japanese: ワイルドカード (wairudo kādo) — competitor or team
  • Korean: 와일드카드 (waildeukadeu) — competitor or team
  • Polish: dzika karta — competitor or team
  • Romanian: wildcard — competitor or team
  • Turkish: turnuva kartı — competitor or team