placeholder

noun

place·hold·er ˈplās-ˌhōl-dər

plural placeholders

: a person or thing that occupies the position or place of another person or thing

The bill would empower the governor to appoint a placeholder to a vacant U.S. Senate seat, to serve through the next general election cycle.—

John Sharp

The result was that the legislation represented little more than a placeholder to put the budget before a conference committee …—

Carl Ingram

: a symbol in a mathematical or logical expression that may be replaced by the name of any element of a set

American football : a player who places and holds the ball upright on the ground for placekicking of a field goal

Examples of placeholder in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

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Over the years, Ricky's name was used for various sign-ups—burner emails, promotional offers and even as a placeholder for referrals. —

David Faris, Newsweek, 18 Jan. 2025 When Fifth Edition was released in 2014, it was done as a placeholder that was trying to lure back old customers dissatisfied with the direction of the game. —

Rob Wieland, Forbes, 8 Jan. 2025 Why manufacture a rotating door of placeholders when there's a former All-Star on the free agent market who also fills your need for a right-handed bat? —

Jonathan Granoff, Newsweek, 29 Jan. 2025 The placeholder action comes as Trump’s economic team has been meeting regularly to chart a path to implement the steep, sweeping tariffs on allies and adversaries alike that the president promised on the campaign trail. —

Kayla Tausche, CNN, 20 Jan. 2025 See all Example Sentences for placeholder