wildcard
/ˈwaɪldˌkɑːrd/
noun
- In games, a card that can represent any other card or suit.
- She won the game because her wildcard completed a straight flush.
- In poker, a joker is often used as a wildcard.
- The rules say you can use the wildcard to replace any missing card.
- A person or thing that is unpredictable or can change a situation in an unexpected way.
- Her sudden decision to quit was a wildcard that surprised everyone.
- The new player is a wildcard; no one knows how well he will perform.
- Weather is always a wildcard when planning an outdoor wedding.
- In sports, a team or player that is allowed to enter a competition even though they did not qualify in the usual way.
- The wildcard spot went to the runner-up from the regional championship.
- He received a wildcard entry into the tennis tournament.
- The wildcard team won three games in a row and made it to the finals.
- In computing, a character (such as * or ?) that can stand for any other character or group of characters in a search.
- Use an asterisk as a wildcard to find all files ending in .txt.
- You can use a wildcard to search for words that start with 'cat'.
- The search function supports wildcards like ? to match any single letter.