hole card
noun
Simple meaning
A playing card dealt face down and not revealed until the showdown.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
hohlkahrdSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈhoʊlˈkɑɹd
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
pokerchiefly in the plural
A playing card dealt face down and not revealed until the showdown
figurativelyextension
Something held in reserve, or concealed, until it is useful.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: (poker) a playing card dealt face down and not revealed until the showdown
Used this way, hole card is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
Share your sentence
Ask Vocabaura
Understand the word your way.
What Does It Mean Here?
Words can change meaning depending on context.
Use it yourself
Knowing “hole card” starts when you use it. Pick a next step, all free.
Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.