cafeteria
Americannoun
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a restaurant in which patrons wait on themselves, carrying their food to tables from counters where it is displayed and served.
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a lunchroom or dining hall, as in a factory, office, or school, where food is served from counters or dispensed from vending machines or where food brought from home may be eaten.
noun
Etymology
Origin of cafeteria
An Americanism dating back to 1830–40; from Latin American Spanish cafetería “café,” Spanish cafeter(a) “coffeemaker,” from French caf(f)etière (equivalent to café + etière feminine of -ier ); t apparently by analogy with words such as bouquetière “flower seller,” from bases ending in t ) + -ía; see origin at coffee, -ier 2
Explanation
A cafeteria is a restaurant where you serve yourself, then pay a cashier. Most schools have a cafeteria serving up sloppy joes and square pizza. "Let's go to the cafeteria!" usually means "Let's eat!" Most people think of school cafeterias, but they can exist elsewhere — a lot of Ikea stores actually have cafeterias for the customers. Cafeteria-style refers to any restaurant where you grab what you want and then pay for it before eating. Cafeterias usually aren't known for having the best food in the world, so if you have another option, go for it.
Vocabulary lists containing cafeteria
"Journeys," Vocabulary from Lesson 26
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Cuisine
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Excerpt from "Speak"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Then, they would lunch on Salisbury steak and Jell-O platters at Schaber’s Cafeteria.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 31, 2025
Roller Rabbit had been toying with moving into scents, but Cafeteria data led it to pause that idea.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 7, 2025
The ham-givers had leftovers from a party, they said, and it was from Matthew’s Cafeteria, a legendary old-school Southern restaurant.
From Washington Post • Feb. 6, 2023
The scene originates from "Hell's Cafeteria," a parody skit from an episode of "The Late Late Show with James Cordon."
From Salon • Dec. 30, 2022
Even if I’d wanted to explain the Cafeteria Incident, there wasn’t time.
From "Bye Forever, I Guess" by Jodi Meadows
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
