restaurant
Americannoun
-
restaurants
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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.
See Examples For:
Lunette, another restaurant, is planned to open in September under chef Florence Knight, an alumnus of London’s Polpetto.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
One key area of reorganization was Uber's delivery business, which Khosrowshahi said would see restaurant, retail and direct delivery units consolidated into teams disaggregated at the global, regional and country level.
From Barron's ● Sep. 2, 2026
At Cubbie’s, a restaurant in Beaufort, North Carolina, owner Neal Rowland removed “French fries” from the menu.
From Salon ● Sep. 2, 2026
The chain is just one of Tesco's restaurant partners.
From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2026
Just as Mr. Pinkerton promised, our buggy was waiting for us across the street, at a restaurant called Mitchell’s.
From "The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan
Service companies such as banks, retailers and restaurants, which employ most Americans, have posted stronger growth this year after a rough patch in 2025.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 3, 2026
The company now runs a 125,000-square-foot, three-soundstage facility with roughly 220 employees producing rotating sets — restaurants, school hallways, a courtroom, jail visitation rooms — designed to mimic a small town.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026
Hejazi says some restaurants are extending the period before they fully open to garner more buzz, while others are making their soft launch pricing permanent for quieter days such as Mondays.
From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2026
In Pattaya, the sailors from the Lincoln continue a long tradition of U.S. servicemen seeking respite at the city’s wide sandy beach, restaurants and bars.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026
There were other shops nearby, a café, some restaurants, but I couldn’t even think about exploring.
From "Bye Forever, I Guess" by Jodi Meadows
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.
