Metaheuristic
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A metaheuristic is an algorithmic approach to approximate optimal solutions for problems in combinatorial optimization.
The name metaheuristic stems from the composition of two Greek words. Heuristic derives from the verb heuriskein (<math>\epsilon\upsilon\rho\iota\sigma\kappa\epsilon\iota\nu<math>) which means "to find" and the prefix meta means "beyond, in an upper level".
Common meta heuristics are local search, simulated annealing, tabu search, genetic algorithms, GRASP and swarm intelligence. Many variants and hybrids of these techniques exist and can be applied in various real world applications.
Bibliography
C. Blum and A. Roli A. (2003). Metaheuristics in combinatorial optimization: Overview and conceptual comparison. ACM Computing Surveys 35(3) 268–308.