card

noun

A playing card.

(in the plural) Any game using playing cards; a card game.

A resource or argument, used to achieve a purpose. (See play the something card.)

Any flat, normally rectangular piece of stiff paper, plastic, etc.

A bank card.

Any electronic payment (rather than a cash payment using notes, bills or coins).

(uncountable) 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.

(informal) An amusing or entertaining person, often slightly eccentric.

A list of scheduled events or of performers or contestants; chiefly used in professional wrestling.

(cricket) 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.

(computing) A removable electronic device that may be inserted into a powered electronic device to provide additional capability.

(computing) Any of a set of pages or forms that the user can navigate between, and fill with data, in certain user interfaces.

A greeting card.

A business card.

(television) 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.

A test card.

In formal debating, a verbatim citation used as evidence for a point.

(weaving) A perforated pasteboard or sheet-metal plate for warp threads, making part of the Jacquard apparatus of a loom.

(graph theory) A graph formed from a given graph by deleting one vertex.

An indicator card.

(textiles) 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.

A roll or sliver of fibre (as of wool) delivered from a carding machine.

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

(Philippines, education) Ellipsis of report card. [(education) A document, on cardboard or plain paper, indicating the grades that a student has earned, issued at the end of a term of a regular period.]

Abbreviation of cardinal (“songbird”). [(Roman Catholicism) One of the officials appointed by the pope in the Roman Catholic Church, ranking only below the pope, equal to the patriarchs, constituting the special college which elects the pope.]

(nautical) Ellipsis of compass card. [(nautical) The circular card attached to the needles of a mariner's compass, on which are marked the thirty-two points or rhumbs.]

Obsolete form of chard. [(uncountable, cooking) An edible leafy vegetable, Beta vulgaris subsp. cicla, with a slightly bitter taste.]

(dated) A published note, containing a brief statement, explanation, request, expression of thanks, etc.

(dated) A printed programme.

(dated, figurative, by extension) An attraction or inducement.

(uncountable, dated) Material with embedded short wire bristles.

(dated, textiles) A comb- or brush-like device or tool to raise the nap on a fabric.

(dated, textiles) A machine for disentangling the fibres of wool prior to spinning.

(obsolete) A map or chart.

verb

(transitive, US) To check IDs, especially against a minimum age requirement.

(transitive, golf) To make (a stated score), as recorded on a scoring card.

(textiles) To use a carding device to disentangle the fibres of wool prior to spinning.

To scrape or tear someone’s flesh using a metal comb, as a form of torture.

(transitive) To comb with a card; to cleanse or disentangle by carding.

(dated) To play cards.

(obsolete, transitive, figuratively) To clean or clear, as if by using a card.

(obsolete, transitive) To mix or mingle, as with an inferior or weaker article.

Roots

chartescard- · Greek · papyrus leaf, paper

Synonyms for card

scorecardn postcardn spadesn deckn

Synonyms & related words for card

Find synonyms, related words, and the definition of card — including scorecard, postcard, spades, deck. Dendril is a free visual thesaurus that shows them on an interactive map where stronger matches sit closer to the center — no signup, no ads.

Words related to card

Explore words related to card — words associated with it, words that go with it, and its nearest matches in meaning. Related words include carte, bankcard, cardholder, thaumatrope, cardsharping, phonecard, undertrump, railcard. Click any word to make it the center of the map and keep exploring the web of connections.

Synonyms for card

Common synonyms for card include scorecard, postcard, spades, deck — words that share a close meaning. Hover or tap any word on the map for its definition and part of speech.

Where does card come from?

The word card breaks down into one root of Greek origin: the root card, from Greek chartes (“papyrus leaf, paper”). Explore each root to see other English words built from the same source.