banquette
Americannoun
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a long bench with an upholstered seat, especially one along a wall, as in a restaurant.
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an embankment for buttressing the base of a levee and forming a berm.
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Chiefly Coastal Louisiana and East Texas. a sidewalk, especially a raised one of bricks or planks.
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Fortification. a platform or step along the inside of a parapet, for soldiers to stand on when firing.
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a ledge running across the back of a buffet.
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a bench for passengers on top of a stagecoach.
noun
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an upholstered bench
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(formerly) a raised part behind a parapet
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a footbridge
Etymology
Origin of banquette
1620–30; < French < Provençal banqueta, equivalent to banc bench ( see bank 3) + -eta -ette
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.
Surrounding that will be a dining area that offers a mix of banquette seating, round tables, high tops and lounge furniture.
From Los Angeles Times • May 11, 2026
Grabbing a seat on the gray banquette by the window, I pulled aside a blue curtain and was astounded by the view of peachy-pink clouds as we rolled across the rugged desert.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 24, 2024
His co-star Daniel Radcliffe and Mr. Radcliffe’s longtime girlfriend, the actress Erin Darke, watched from their perch on a banquette as they greeted well-wishers.
From New York Times • Jun. 17, 2024
The whole wall behind the banquette is storage.
From Seattle Times • Mar. 27, 2023
It was a thousand times more fun to haul real chips for old lame Susie’s real fire than to drag painted blocks along the banquette on Esplanade Street!
From "The Awakening" by Kate Chopin
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.
