eatery
Americannoun
-
eateries
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of eatery
Explanation
Use the word eatery when you're talking about a cafe or restaurant. You might stop at a great local eatery for a burger after seeing a movie. Eatery is a casual or informal word for a place to buy and eat prepared food. A diner is one kind of eatery, and a Chinese restaurant is another. You might have a favorite eatery among all the choices on a college campus, or know of an all-night eatery where you can get a snack at three a.m. Eatery was first used right around 1901, from eat, with its Old English root of etan, "to eat, devour, or consume."
Vocabulary lists containing eatery
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:
Nestled at the top of the museum with sweeping city views, the classic American eatery is now taking reservations.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 5, 2026
The eatery features Midcentury Modern touches with curved cherry wood walls and paneled ceilings, as well as illuminated white onyx Corian surfaces.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2026
After opening her third eatery in January, she finally brought her 14-year-old daughter from Nepal following a decade of separation and she is now enrolled in a Japanese school.
From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026
Messrs. White and Moss-Bachrach and Ms. Edebiri have been the main ingredients over the course of “The Bear,” which refers to both Mr. White’s character and his eatery.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026
Across the desperate eatery, through the rain-greased windows and beyond the access road that bounded a strip of sloping littered grass, ran the Interstate.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
Investigations into individual cases also suggest the eateries involved were buying eggs from abroad.
From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026
And while business manager visa holders have a three-year grace period to meet the new conditions, some thriving businesses -- including many popular eateries in Okubo -- fear they won't manage.
From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026
Itai Ben Eli, co-founder of Sof Hospitality, has been fielding calls from parents who want him to offer their child a job at one of his six eateries in Austin, Texas; Houston and New Orleans.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 24, 2026
I’ve been to my share of fancy Vegas eateries but found plenty to enjoy, or at least tolerate, if you don’t want to pad your vacation bill with extras.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 20, 2026
There was a heat unlike anything I’d ever felt, a heat from the great buildings, compounded by the millions of people jamming themselves into subway cars, into bars, into those same tiny eateries and cafes.
From "Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
