How to Use placeholder in a Sentence

placeholder

noun
  • The theme was kind of a placeholder.
    — Rob Wieland, Forbes.com, 11 Aug. 2025
  • But these are mere placeholder plot points.
    — Guy Lodge, Variety, 29 Apr. 2026
  • This, plugged in sources said, would serve as a placeholder of sorts.
    — Phil Mattingly, CNN, 2 Nov. 2017
  • Let this clip of us giving it our all be a placeholder.
    — Glenn Garner, Deadline, 20 Mar. 2026
  • But the phrase can also serve as a vague, content-free placeholder.
    — Frederick Hess, Forbes, 5 Oct. 2022
  • He was brought in as a placeholder by the 49ers last year and at least things did not get any worse.
    — Steve Silverman, Forbes, 13 Dec. 2024
  • That line, written by me or a member of the campaign staff, was a placeholder.
    — Neal B. Freeman, National Review, 7 Apr. 2024
  • The placeholder boxes of papers had never been touched, and went back to the house.
    — Rafil Kroll-Zaidi, Harper's Magazine, 15 Sep. 2020
  • In truth that was a placeholder if Crawford didn’t sign a contract to fight.
    — Calvin Watkins, Dallas News, 6 June 2023
  • Then, furries can buy their way into the piece to replace the placeholder.
    — Hannah Kirby, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 20 June 2019
  • She was deemed a good nonpartisan pick to serve as a placeholder ahead of elections.
    — Cnaan Liphshiz, sun-sentinel.com, 3 June 2021
  • This is only a placeholder until your next visit to the dry cleaner.
    — Amanda Garrity, Good Housekeeping, 30 Apr. 2021
  • The club announced the placeholder name Thursday, ahead of the start of training camp next week.
    — Stephen Whyno, The Denver Post, 23 July 2020
  • For 25 years, a smaller Opie painting served as a placeholder for the lost piece.
    — Anthony Robledo, USA TODAY, 2 Feb. 2024
  • Some of the widows were content with the placeholder role that the party presumed, serving just one year or one term.
    — Anna Diamond, Smithsonian Magazine, 3 Feb. 2020
  • Feels very placeholder-text, but whatever!
    — Jessica M. Goldstein, Vulture, 3 Sep. 2025
  • For now, at least, Black Panther 2 is just a placeholder title.
    — Erica Gonzales, Harper's BAZAAR, 12 Dec. 2020
  • The dummy book would act as a placeholder, and a patron who wanted to borrow the item would then have to ask staff to retrieve it.
    — Becca Savransky, Idaho Statesman, 27 June 2024
  • Playing Reichel on the fourth line with two slow placeholders is not where Reichel should be.
    — Scott Powers, The Athletic, 25 Feb. 2025
  • As a result, six placeholders were drawn during Friday's event.
    — Matt Schooley, CBS News, 6 Dec. 2025
  • For years, these domains displayed harmless placeholder pages.
    — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 26 Dec. 2025
  • Kim Yo Jong could serve as a placeholder until one of her brother’s children is old enough to take over.
    — David Pierson, Los Angeles Times, 21 Apr. 2020
  • Until the real turkey makes its way from the oven to the table, this resin turkey is the perfect placeholder.
    — Kaitlin Gates, Southern Living, 1 Nov. 2024
  • No longer a placeholder, the digit acquired a value and found its place on the number line, before 1.
    — Quanta Magazine, 18 Oct. 2024
  • Add a design to the paint chip with a fine-point permanent marker and a crafts-store stencil to give the placeholder a pretty look.
    — Sarah Martens, Better Homes & Gardens, 1 Nov. 2022
  • For the last three seasons, the Heat have gone with a veteran placeholder at power forward.
    — Ira Winderman, Sun Sentinel, 12 May 2022
  • As for the title, Jackman seemed to hint that Deadpool 3 might be a placeholder.
    — Jacob Siegal, BGR, 26 Oct. 2022
  • Meyers had mostly been a placeholder in the starting lineup, which the Heat now have covered.
    — Ira Winderman, sun-sentinel.com, 7 Aug. 2020
  • As Jori Epstein explains, the tag should be viewed as a placeholder not a solution.
    — Jori Epstein, USA TODAY, 17 Mar. 2020
  • Philcox, a placeholder, wasn’t the answer, but Belichick knew that Testaverde was.
    — BostonGlobe.com, 31 Aug. 2021

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'placeholder.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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