wild card

 Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English 5++朗文当代英语 5++LDOCE 5++朗文 5++

Related topics: Cards, Computers

ˈwild ˌcard noun [countable]  1. DGCa playing card that can represent any other card 〔纸牌游戏中的〕百搭牌2. PREDICTsomeone whose behaviour or effect on a situation is difficult to guess 难以猜测的人3. a player who is a wild card or who is given a wild card is chosen for a competition although they have not previously done well enough to take part 外卡参赛选手4. technicalTD a symbol that can represent any letter in some computer instructions 通配符

Examples from the Corpus

wild card• At this supreme moment in his plans, in his life, fate had suddenly dealt Jack a wild card.• China remains a wild card in the negotiations.• But it was like everybody already had their connections, and I was like this wild card.• Inevitably I fell for him, thereby complicating my life horrendously and introducing an unexpected wild card into his.From Longman Business Dictionarywild cardˈwild card noun [countable]1something that has an unexpected effect on a situationwild card inA wild card in the company’s prospects is the disagreement that has broken out between the company and some of its 16,000 workers.2COMPUTING a sign that can represent any letter in some computer commands

ˈwild ˌcard nounChineseSyllable  

can any playing that represent Business a card Corpus

wild card
ˈwild ˌcard noun [countable]
1. a playing card that can represent any other card
2. someone whose behaviour or effect on a situation is difficult to guess
3. a player who is a wild card or who is given a wild card is chosen for a competition although they have not previously done well enough to take part
4. technical a symbol that can represent any letter in some computer instructions

wild cardBrE /ˈwaɪld kɑːd/ 🔊NAmE /ˈwaɪld kɑːrd/ 🔊 noun(in card games 纸牌游戏) a card that has no value of its own and takes the value of any card that the player chooses （由持牌人自由决定牌值的）百搭牌，变牌(sport 体育) an opportunity for sb to play in a competition when they have not qualified in the usual way; a player who enters a competition in this way “外卡” 参赛，“外卡” 选手（指没有正常参赛资格而参赛）(computing 计算机) a symbol that can represent any letter or number 通配符a person or thing whose behaviour or effect is difficult to predict 难以预测的人（或事物）；未知因素；未知数