on the cards
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Likely.
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
We have to rely simply on the speculation that we hear.
Clearly this is something we do not wish to be associated with; we can only imagine they are trying to get some kind of spurious respectability by using our name.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Figurative class: Metaphor (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).
Common questions
What does “on the cards” mean?
Likely.
Is “on the cards” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.