also wildcard
(~s)
1.
If you refer to someone or something as a ~ in a particular situation, you mean that they cause uncertainty because you do not know how they will behave.
The ~ in the picture is eastern Europe.
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2.
If a sports player is given a ~ 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 ~ to refer to a player who enters a competition in this way.
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3.
A wildcard is a symbol such as or ? which is used in some computing commands or searches in order to represent any character or range of characters. (COMPUTING)
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