Word.ws English Dictionary

metasyntactic variable

metasyntactic variable noun: a conventional variable name used for an unspecified entity whose exact nature depends on context.

Noun

metasyntactic variable (plural metasyntactic variables)

  1. A conventional variable name used for an unspecified entity whose exact nature depends on context.
    • Use metasyntactic variables like foo and bar when you need a name but the particular name doesn't matter.

Forms of metasyntactic variable

pluralmetasyntactic variables

Questions about metasyntactic variable

What does metasyntactic variable mean?
Metasyntactic variable means a conventional variable name used for an unspecified entity whose exact nature depends on context.
What part of speech is metasyntactic variable?
Metasyntactic variable is a noun.
What is the plural of metasyntactic variable?
The plural of metasyntactic variable is metasyntactic variables.

Words near metasyntactic variable in the dictionary

  1. metasyncrisis
  2. metasyncritic
  3. metasyncritical
  4. metasyndromic
  5. metasyntactic
  6. metasyntactic variable
  7. metasyntactic variables
  8. metasyntax
  9. metasyntaxes
  10. metasyntheses
  11. metasynthesis

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: metasyntactic variable (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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