Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

metaheuristic
     
         A top-level general
        strategy which guides other {heuristics} to search for
        feasible solutions in domains where the task is hard.
     
        Metaheuristics have been most generally applied to problems
        classified as {NP-Hard} or {NP-Complete} by the theory of
        {computational complexity}.  However, metaheuristics would
        also be applied to other {combinatorial} {optimisation}
        problems for which it is known that a {polynomial-time}
        solution exists but is not practical.
     
        Examples of metaheuristics are {Tabu Search}, {simulated
        annealing}, {genetic algorithms} and {memetic algorithms}.
     
        (1997-10-30)