café
noun
a small, unpretentious restaurant, often with exterior seating on a patio or extending onto the sidewalk.
café
1 American
[ka-fey, kuh-, ka -fey]
/ kæˈfeɪ, kə-, kaˈfeɪ /
Or
cafe
noun
-
cafés
plural
-
a small, unpretentious restaurant, often with exterior seating on a patio or extending onto the sidewalk.
- Synonyms:
- tearoom, lunchroom, bistro, coffeehouse
-
I pick up a café and a croissant on my commute in to work every morning.
CAFE
2
American
[ka-fey, kuh-]
/ kæˈfeɪ, kə- /
noun
café
British
/ ˈkæfeɪ, ˈkæfɪ /
noun
-
a small or inexpensive restaurant or coffee bar, serving light meals and refreshments
-
a corner shop or grocer
Spelling
See resume 2.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of café1
First recorded in 1780–90; from French: literally, “coffee”; see origin at coffee
Origin of CAFE2
C(orporate) A(verage) F(uel) E(conomy)
Compare meaning
How does cafe compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
A cafe is a coffee shop, or a small restaurant where coffee is served. Your neighborhood cafe might be a good place to get a piece of pie and a cup of coffee. You could stop by a cafe for lunch, or just grab a coffee and a muffin to go. You can also call a cafe a "coffeehouse" or "coffee shop," and while the word is similar to cafeteria — and the two share a root word — a cafeteria tends to be a buffet-style restaurant or dining hall. Cafe comes from the French café, which means both "coffee" and "coffeehouse."
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:
A second complainant told jurors he had kissed Bowen in a café after being "goaded" into it by other boys.
From BBC ● Aug. 27, 2026
They met at a café in Waikiki where Leong, still wet from surfing, persuaded Akemoto to stay in Hawaii.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026
In another, it occupied an outdoor café table next to an exceptionally good pair of cat-eye sunglasses.
From Salon ● Aug. 1, 2026
The report said: "Emmerdale Village was designed to include everything a typical rural village would have, including a village hall, café, church, residential dwellings and more."
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026
I walked down the hill from the cathedral and up the street to the café on the square.
From "The Sun Also Rises" by Ernest Hemingway
As long as we’re stuck with a version of CAFE, though, there is another change needed to eliminate a distortion: Stop averaging miles per gallon and start averaging gallons burned per thousand miles.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 22, 2025
That would be the main focus of the school’s proposed Center for Agriculture, Food and the Environment, or CAFE.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 20, 2022
"CAFE is not a public health regulation," said Graham, who is a member of EPA's Science Advisory Board.
From Science Magazine ● Aug. 1, 2018
The corporate average fuel economy, or CAFE, program is shared between two agencies: the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and EPA, which is the latecomer.
From Scientific American ● Aug. 1, 2018
You've only to step round the corner of Smith's Hotel on the side street and read the sign: LADIES' AND GENT'S CAFE, just as large and as imposing as ever.
From Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town by Stephen Leacock
It’s set in Los Angeles but the cafés and shops are obviously not local and the worst, most dated stock L.A. traffic footage can’t cover that up.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
We would be sipping ice-cold spritzes at cafés overlooking the Mediterranean, frolicking down cobblestone streets lined with charming boutiques, and marveling at the frescoes and marble sculptures adorning grand cathedrals.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026
While pubs, clubs and live music venues are set to benefit from the business rates relief, restaurants, cafés, hotels and cinemas have not been included in the government's announcement.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
And all over the capital, whose May temperature record of 94.6 degrees dates back 82 years, it is almost too hot to sit at outdoor cafés.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026
Jason and Leo touched down in a big piazza lined with white marble government buildings and outdoor cafés.
From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan
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.
