placeholder
noun
place·hold·er ˈplās-ˌhōl-dər 
plural placeholders
1
: 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
John SharpThe result was that the legislation represented little more than a placeholder to put the budget before a conference committee … Carl Ingram
Carl Ingram2
: a symbol in a mathematical or logical expression that may be replaced by the name of any element of a set
3
American football : a player who places and holds the ball upright on the ground for placekicking of a field goal
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web Save for the iPhone 14 mini mistake, which could be just a placeholder name the mysterious retailer might be using in its marketing materials, pending Apple’s keynote. Chris Smith, BGR, 22 Aug. 2022 Most recently, that was Sandra Williams, who resigned the seat earlier this summer to take a lobbying job, with a friend, Sen. Dale Martin, picked to serve out her term as a placeholder. Andrew J. Tobias, cleveland, 21 July 2022 Disney’s focus aligns with the thinking on Wall Street, where some see subscriber numbers as more of a placeholder metric before streamers reached profitability, says Bank of America analyst Jessica Reif Ehrlich. Caitlin Huston, The Hollywood Reporter, 17 Aug. 2022 Like all retail websites, H&M’s contains placeholder text in its code to accompany data about a particular product that’s usually fetched from a database. Amanda Shendruk, Quartz, 29 June 2022 Considering how much the Sixers need to bolster their supporting cast this offseason, keeping Green as a $10 million placeholder is likely a non-starter. Bryan Toporek, Forbes, 14 May 2022 Sonnenberg: You were hired to add value, not be a placeholder. Rodger Dean Duncan, Forbes, 9 Aug. 2022 Israel's current prime minister, Yair Lapid, is only a placeholder until new elections can be held, though Biden did meet with once-and-likely-future PM Benjamin Netanyahu behind closed doors. Grayson Quay, The Week, 19 July 2022 While last week's edition felt like a bit of a placeholder, the revelations came fast and furious in this stellar installment. Lauren Morgan, EW.com, 15 June 2022 See More
Chris Smith, BGR, 22 Aug. 2022 Most recently, that was Sandra Williams, who resigned the seat earlier this summer to take a lobbying job, with a friend, Sen. Dale Martin, picked to serve out her term as a placeholder. Andrew J. Tobias, cleveland, 21 July 2022 Disney’s focus aligns with the thinking on Wall Street, where some see subscriber numbers as more of a placeholder metric before streamers reached profitability, says Bank of America analyst Jessica Reif Ehrlich. Caitlin Huston, The Hollywood Reporter, 17 Aug. 2022 Like all retail websites, H&M’s contains placeholder text in its code to accompany data about a particular product that’s usually fetched from a database. Amanda Shendruk, Quartz, 29 June 2022 Considering how much the Sixers need to bolster their supporting cast this offseason, keeping Green as a $10 million placeholder is likely a non-starter. Bryan Toporek, Forbes, 14 May 2022 Sonnenberg: You were hired to add value, not be a placeholder. Rodger Dean Duncan, Forbes, 9 Aug. 2022 Israel's current prime minister, Yair Lapid, is only a placeholder until new elections can be held, though Biden did meet with once-and-likely-future PM Benjamin Netanyahu behind closed doors. Grayson Quay, The Week, 19 July 2022 While last week's edition felt like a bit of a placeholder, the revelations came fast and furious in this stellar installment. Lauren Morgan, EW.com, 15 June 2022 See More Word History
First Known Use
1927, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Kids Definition
placeholder
noun
place·hold·er ˈplās-ˌhōl-dər
: a symbol (as x, Δ, *) used in mathematics in the place of a numeral