cater
Americanverb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
verb
-
(intr; foll by for or to) to provide what is required or desired (for)
to cater for a need
cater to your tastes
-
to provide food, services, etc (for)
we cater for parties
to cater a banquet
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
catersimple
-
caterssimple
-
have cateredperfect
-
has cateredperfect
-
am cateringprogressive
-
are cateringprogressive
-
is cateringprogressive
-
have been cateringperfect progressive
-
has been cateringperfect progressive
Past
-
cateredsimple
-
had cateredperfect
-
was cateringprogressive
-
were cateringprogressive
-
had been cateringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of cater
First recorded in 1350–1400; verb use of obsolete cater, Middle English catour, variant of acatour “buyer,” from Anglo-French, from acat(er) “to buy” ( see cate) + -our -or 2
Explanation
To cater means to supply food for meetings or celebrations. If you're having a big barbecue party but would rather hang out with your friends than grill, you could pay someone to cater it. In Middle English, the food supply in a big household was known as the cates, and so to cater meant keeping the pantry full. These days, caterers don't do pantries. They cook food for many different households or offices. Cater has also come to mean "giving what is desired or needed." You might cater to your grandfather by bringing him tea, reading to him, and laughing at his bad jokes.
Vocabulary lists containing cater
Talk Like Shakespeare Day, List 2
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"Curtis Aikens and the American Dream" and "Go For It!"
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Mardi Gras: Food
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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.
See Examples For:
And Skyroot's cab service could also cater to Isro's space programmes, but Chandana says that "70-80% of our market would be the global economy".
From BBC ● Jul. 18, 2026
But in between, Charlotte, now 43, says they fought over who got the first look at the mail-order catalogs that, at the time, were the first to cater specifically to a tween and teen-girl audience.
From Salon ● Jul. 18, 2026
For investors, it also creates long-term opportunities in the sectors that cater to older adults, from tech-enabled “aging in place” services to senior housing and multigenerational wealth transfer.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 15, 2026
Vloklinec doesn't have adequate access roads, parking areas or public toilets needed to cater for the crowds that descend on it.
From Barron's ● Jul. 3, 2026
But there’s another way in which our devices, perhaps less expectedly, cater to our deepest neurological wiring.
From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel
Max spent £20,000 from his redundancy package buying and converting a horsebox trailer into a pizza truck, which now caters for weddings, parties and pop-ups.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
French luxury giant Chanel announced Thursday that it had acquired historic Parisian shirtmaker Charvet, having previously collaborated with the brand which caters mostly to men.
From Barron's ● Jul. 2, 2026
One person who used to work at the company has been in a debate with Eric Franklin, a wealth adviser who caters to tech-company employees.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 9, 2026
Tesla also caters to retail investors in ways other companies don’t, reserving time for questions submitted by everyday investors on quarterly earnings calls and often inviting them to events.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 5, 2026
My mother's parents were part of the small merchant class that caters to officials, Peacekeepers, and the occasional Seam customer.
From "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins
UFO is just one of several ETFs catered to the business of space.
From Barron's ● May 11, 2026
It was as if the trailer catered to the fans who loved “The Devil Wears Prada” as an idea, rather than as a movie.
From Salon ● Apr. 20, 2026
Drive-in movie theaters catered to the growing suburban, car-driving population, fast-food chains like McDonald’s made eating out affordable for more families, and amusement parks proliferated after the opening of Disneyland in 1955.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 15, 2026
Now it’s owned by a dairy cooperative but for decades, the Stueve family catered to local tastes and habits, like drive-through dairy windows.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 14, 2026
Aunt Maggie’s husband, Uncle Hoskins, owned a saloon that catered to the hundreds of Negroes who worked in the surrounding sawmills.
From "Black Boy" by Richard Wright
He’s built custom projects for the Long Beach dessert shop SnoCorner and Peruvian food truck Mikhuna, along with major 30- and 40-foot catering trucks for high-profile clients like Google and Monster Energy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2026
Kate said she and Matt were grateful to family and friends for their support, including her best friend Jade Foley, who stepped in to pay a deposit for the hastily arranged new catering.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
That means catering for everyone comes with its challenges.
From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2026
The company is diversifying beyond traditional in-flight catering into ready-to-eat and fresh frozen meals, supported by demand for convenient food, the analysts say.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026
"Fayne residence and catering service," George said as she answered.
From "Case of the Sneaky Snowman: Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew, #5" by Carolyn Keene
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.
