restaurant
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of restaurant
An Americanism first recorded in 1820–30; from French, noun use of present participle of restaurer, from Latin restaurāre “to restore, reestablish”; cf. re- ( def. ), store
Compare meaning
How does restaurant compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
A restaurant is a place — usually inside a building — where you go to eat food, which, most of the time, you must pay for. Restaurant comes from the French restaurer, which means "to provide food for." Restaurants will provide food for you if you've got the cash, and most of the time they'll even let you sit down right there and eat it. Common examples of restaurants include burger joints, cafeterias, pizzerias, sandwich shops, steak houses, seafood shacks, (some) hot-dog stands, ice cream parlors, taquerias, Chinese takeout, (some) bakeries, and fine-dining establishments.
Vocabulary lists containing restaurant
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.
Recently, she saw Large a few booths over at a local restaurant.
From Salon • May 27, 2026
I say to them, if you date someone, and they are rude to the server at the restaurant, they’re not your person.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 27, 2026
Several global consumer analysts now monitor same-store sales, franchise churn, and average sales-per-store metrics more closely than raw outlet growth in China’s restaurant sector.
From Barron's • May 26, 2026
He had mentioned he was trying to lose weight, and the chatbot started bringing up that fact everywhere, including when he was looking for restaurant recommendations while out of town.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 25, 2026
We are half a block from Rice, the Thai restaurant we always go to.
From "Invisible Inkling" by Emily Jenkins
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.
