Card

/kɑɹd/ name, noun, verb, slang

name, noun, verb, slang ·Very common ·Middle school level

Meaning at a glance

  • Primary sense: A playing card.
  • Grammar: card is listed as name, noun, verb, slang.
  • Nearest alternatives: calling card, visiting card, ace, act.
  • Useful contrasts: cardless, cash, cheque.
  • Usage evidence: A schedule is an identity card for time, but, if you don't have a schedule, the time isn't there.

How to use "card"

  1. Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
  2. Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "card" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
  3. Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.

Meaning check

  • Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
  • Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
  • Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
  • Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?

Source and review context

This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "card" in a final draft.

If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.

Before you rely on this definition

Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "card" as the right word for your sentence.

If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "card" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.

Compare nearby meanings

  • Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
  • Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
  • Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
  • Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.

Definition decision workflow

1. Identify the role

Check whether "card" is acting as name, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.

2. Test the nearest option

Compare it with "calling card" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.

3. Confirm with context

Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.

Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.

Final meaning check

Before publishing a sentence with "card", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.

When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A playing card. countable, uncountable

    "As each card is played in blackjack, it changes the possibilities for both player and dealer by diminishing the number and the variety of cards that may be dealt."

  2. 2
    Material with embedded short wire bristles. dated, uncountable
  3. 3
    Abbreviation of cardinal (“songbird”). abbreviation, alt-of
  4. 4
    Obsolete form of chard. alt-of, obsolete
  5. 5
    one of a set of small pieces of stiff paper marked in various ways and used for playing games or for telling fortunes wordnet
Show 39 more definitions
  1. 6
    Any game using playing cards; a card game. countable, in-plural, uncountable

    "He played cards with his friends."

  2. 7
    A comb- or brush-like device or tool to raise the nap on a fabric. countable, dated, uncountable
  3. 8
    a printed circuit that can be inserted into expansion slots in a computer to increase the computer's capabilities wordnet
  4. 9
    A resource or argument, used to achieve a purpose. (See play the something card.) countable, uncountable

    "The government played the Orange card to get support for their Ireland policy."

  5. 10
    A hand-held tool formed similarly to a hairbrush but with bristles of wire or other rigid material. It is used principally with raw cotton, wool, hair, or other natural fibers to prepare these materials for spinning into yarn or thread on a spinning wheel, with a whorl or other hand-held spindle. The card serves to untangle, clean, remove debris from, and lay the fibers straight. countable, uncountable
  6. 11
    a card certifying the identity of the bearer wordnet
  7. 12
    Any flat, normally rectangular piece of stiff paper, plastic, etc. countable, uncountable
  8. 13
    A machine for disentangling the fibres of wool prior to spinning. countable, dated, uncountable
  9. 14
    (baseball) a list of batters in the order in which they will bat wordnet
  10. 15
    A bank card. countable, uncountable
  11. 16
    A roll or sliver of fibre (as of wool) delivered from a carding machine. countable, uncountable
  12. 17
    a list of dishes available at a restaurant wordnet
  13. 18
    Any electronic payment (rather than a cash payment using notes, bills or coins). countable, uncountable

    "Cashier: "Cash or card? Customer: "I'm paying on my phone, so card.""

  14. 19
    (golf) a record of scores (as in golf) wordnet
  15. 20
    Paper that is thicker and more durable than normal writing or printing paper, but thinner and more flexible than paperboard, used for postcards, playing cards, etc.; card stock. uncountable

    "Do you have any card? I want to make a poster."

  16. 21
    a rectangular piece of stiff paper used to send messages (may have printed greetings or pictures) wordnet
  17. 22
    A map or chart. countable, obsolete, uncountable

    "As pilot well expert in perilous waue, / Vpon his card and compas firmes his eye […]."

  18. 23
    a printed or written greeting that is left to indicate that you have visited wordnet
  19. 24
    An amusing or entertaining person, often slightly eccentric. countable, informal, uncountable

    ""He's a cheery old card," muttered Harry to Jack / As they slogged up to Arras with rifle and pack. / . . . / But he did for them both by his plan of attack."

  20. 25
    a sign posted in a public place as an advertisement wordnet
  21. 26
    A list of scheduled events or of performers or contestants; chiefly used in professional wrestling. countable, uncountable

    "What's on the card for tonight?"

  22. 27
    a witty amusing person who makes jokes wordnet
  23. 28
    A tabular presentation of the key statistics of an innings or match: batsmen’s scores and how they were dismissed, extras, total score and bowling figures. countable, uncountable
  24. 29
    thin cardboard, usually rectangular wordnet
  25. 30
    A removable electronic device that may be inserted into a powered electronic device to provide additional capability. countable, uncountable

    "He needed to replace the card his computer used to connect to the internet."

  26. 31
    Any of a set of pages or forms that the user can navigate between, and fill with data, in certain user interfaces. countable, uncountable

    "The button will "see" the cursor through a card domain graphic; you can then change button graphics on each card."

  27. 32
    A greeting card. countable, uncountable

    "She gave her neighbors a card congratulating them on their new baby."

  28. 33
    A business card. countable, uncountable

    "The realtor gave me her card so I could call if I had any questions about buying a house."

  29. 34
    A title card or intertitle: a piece of filmed, printed text edited into the midst of the photographed action at various points, generally to convey character dialogue or descriptive narrative material related to the plot. countable, uncountable
  30. 35
    A test card. countable, uncountable
  31. 36
    In formal debating, a verbatim citation used as evidence for a point. countable, uncountable

    "You can make most theory answers without cards, but some cards do exist which specifically criticize kritiks on a theoretical basis."

  32. 37
    A published note, containing a brief statement, explanation, request, expression of thanks, etc. countable, dated, uncountable

    "to put a card in the newspapers"

  33. 38
    A printed programme. countable, dated, uncountable
  34. 39
    An attraction or inducement. broadly, countable, dated, figuratively, uncountable

    "This will be a good card for the last day of the fair."

  35. 40
    Ellipsis of compass card. abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis, uncountable

    ""The Lord possessed me [= Wisdom] in the beginning of his way, even before his works of old was I set up;" that law, which hath been the pattern to make, and is the card to guide the world by"

  36. 41
    A perforated pasteboard or sheet-metal plate for warp threads, making part of the Jacquard apparatus of a loom. countable, uncountable
  37. 42
    A graph formed from a given graph by deleting one vertex. countable, uncountable
  38. 43
    An indicator card. countable, uncountable
  39. 44
    Ellipsis of report card. Philippines, abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis, uncountable

    "Where's your card? I want to see your grades."

Verb
  1. 1
    To check IDs, especially against a minimum age requirement. US, transitive

    "They have to card anybody who looks 21 or younger."

  2. 2
    To use a carding device to disentangle the fibres of wool prior to spinning.

    ""Isn't that true, Bertha? " asked the smith. "Yes, every word of it, my lad," said Mother Bertha, who was sitting near the hearth carding."

  3. 3
    ask someone for identification to determine whether he or she is old enough to consume liquor wordnet
  4. 4
    To play cards. dated

    "For Corinius, who gave not a fig for music or dirges, but liked well of carding and dicing, had brought forth his dice box to play with the son of Corund."

  5. 5
    To scrape or tear someone’s flesh using a metal comb, as a form of torture.
Show 5 more definitions
  1. 6
    separate the fibers of wordnet
  2. 7
    To make (a stated score), as recorded on a scoring card. transitive

    "McIlroy carded a stellar nine-under-par 61 in the final round."

  3. 8
    To comb with a card; to cleanse or disentangle by carding. transitive

    "to card a horse"

  4. 9
    To clean or clear, as if by using a card. figuratively, obsolete, transitive

    "It is necessary that this book carded and purged of certain base things."

  5. 10
    To mix or mingle, as with an inferior or weaker article. obsolete, transitive

    "that card your beer, if you see your guests begin to be drunk, half small and half strong"

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname originating as an occupation for a carder of wool.

Synonyms

All synonyms
calling cardvisiting cardaceactadd-inage verification

Example

"A schedule is an identity card for time, but, if you don't have a schedule, the time isn't there."

Common questions

What does "card" mean?

A playing card.

What is a synonym for "card"?

Common synonyms include: calling card, visiting card, ace, act, add-in, age verification.

How do you use "card" in a sentence?

A schedule is an identity card for time, but, if you don't have a schedule, the time isn't there.

How do you pronounce "card"?

Pronounced /kɑɹd/.

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English carde (“playing card”), from Old French carte, from Latin charta, from Ancient Greek χάρτης (khártēs, “paper, papyrus”). Doublet of carte and chart.

Etymology 2

From Middle English carde, Old French carde, from Old Occitan carda, deverbal from cardar, from Late Latin *carito, from Latin carō (“to comb with a card”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut”).

Etymology 3

From Middle English carden, from Old French carder, from carde (“cotton card”); see Etymology 2 for more.

More for "card"

Synonyms

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