reserved word

A sequence of letters which you cannot use in any other context of the language or program. In 4GL releases before 4.1, all keywords were reserved words. In release 4.1 and beyond, you can use keywords as variable or identifier names as long as they do not create an ambiguity for the 4GL compiler. If you compile a 4GL program as ANSI-compliant, most keywords are still reserved words and therefore should not be used as variables or identifiers.

See also ANSI-compliant, identifier, keyword.