cafeteria

American  

[kaf-i-teer-ee-uh] / ˌkæf ɪˈtɪər i ə /

noun

• cafeterias
  plural

1. a restaurant in which patrons wait on themselves, carrying their food to tables from counters where it is displayed and served.

2. 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.

---

cafeteria British  

/ ˌkæfɪˈtɪərɪə /

noun

1. a self-service restaurant

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• cafeterias
  plural

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cafeteria cafeterias

Dahlia and Mark sit down with Slow Burn to discuss how Gorsuch fits into the current court, where he’s going next, and why he never took his job on the cafeteria committee seriously.

From Slate ● Aug. 29, 2026

That cafeteria approach to fare pricing came out of post-pandemic air-travel lessons, at least in part.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 13, 2026

All 400 seats in the sweltering auditorium were filled, with an additional 300 people in the cafeteria.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026

Foreign guests of the regime enjoyed a privileged diet of fruits, vegetables and cheeses while in the school cafeteria she and her students met with “starch, grease and gruel.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 21, 2026

“That’s as much as I got,” I mumble, following a kid wearing rainbow pants into the cafeteria.

From "The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman" by Gennifer Choldenko

Nearly 1 in 5 American 15-year-olds report being bullied at least several times a month, and 13% don’t feel safe in hallways, cafeterias, restrooms or other places at school.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026

Cook is regularly spotted walking the halls of Apple Park or grabbing lunch at one of Apple’s Caffè Mac cafeterias.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 29, 2026

Yet schools have many fixed costs, such as maintaining, repairing, heating and cooling school buildings, operating cafeterias and managing many administrative functions that cannot easily be scaled down when enrollment declines inevitably reduce funding.

From Salon ● Jul. 28, 2026

At UC hospitals, union members work in cafeterias, as radiology technologists and as nurse’s aides, among other roles.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 14, 2026

I let “Rebel Girl” distract me from my general hatred of cafeterias and my particular dread about sitting with the band.

From "Sparrow" by Sarah Moon

Related Words

• lunchroom
• snack bar