Dictionary

metavariable en · NOUN

Etymology

From meta- + variable.

Meanings

1. A symbol or string of symbols belonging to a metalanguage and standing for elements of some object language.
   • If it is a programming language, it will almost always have its own notion of variables, and hence the distinction between object-language variables and metavariables is useful. 2016, Aaron Stump, Verified Functional Programming in Agda, page 198:
   • The pragmatic process of substitution requires some given context to provide an appropriate substituend for a metavariable projected by a pronoun. 2006 March 13, Lutz Martin, “Relative Clause Construal”, in The Dynamics of Language, Brill, →ISBN, page 85:

Forms