cafeteria

American  

[kaf-i-teer-ee-uh] / ˌkæf ɪˈtɪər i ə /

noun

cafeterias plural

1. a restaurant in which patrons wait on themselves, carrying their food to tables from counters where it is displayed and served.

2. a lunchroom or dining hall, as in a factory, office, or school, where food is served from counters or dispensed from vending machines or where food brought from home may be eaten.

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cafeteria British  

/ ˌkæfɪˈtɪərɪə /

noun

1. a self-service restaurant

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• cafeterias
  plural

Etymology

Origin of cafeteria

An Americanism dating back to 1830–40; from Latin American Spanish cafetería “café,” Spanish cafeter(a) “coffeemaker,” from French caf(f)etière (equivalent to café + etière feminine of -ier ); t apparently by analogy with words such as bouquetière “flower seller,” from bases ending in t ) + -ía; see origin at coffee, -ier ²

Explanation

A cafeteria is a restaurant where you serve yourself, then pay a cashier. Most schools have a cafeteria serving up sloppy joes and square pizza. "Let's go to the cafeteria!" usually means "Let's eat!" Most people think of school cafeterias, but they can exist elsewhere — a lot of Ikea stores actually have cafeterias for the customers. Cafeteria-style refers to any restaurant where you grab what you want and then pay for it before eating. Cafeterias usually aren't known for having the best food in the world, so if you have another option, go for it.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cafeteria cafeterias

“I make a motion to appoint myself,” Verdugo said last week from a folding chair in an elementary-school cafeteria, looking out at dozens of constituents perched awkwardly on low kid-size benches.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026

SpaceX’s compensation philosophy historically favored equity over cash salaries, so this windfall extends well beyond executives and engineers to include nontechnical staff, entry-level workers and even cafeteria employees.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026

Vegetarian food is served cafeteria style and in practice if not by decree, eaten slowly, putting down the fork between bites.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 23, 2026

Army would set up a table inside the cafeteria of our high school where they would recruit these kids—not even young men and women—into the service.

From Slate ● Jun. 17, 2026

The two girls were sitting together at a long white table in the River Heights Elementary School cafeteria.

From "Pony Problems: Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew, #3" by Carolyn Keene

School cafeterias are a common place for bullying to occur, she says, because the student-to-staff ratio is much higher than in a classroom.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 30, 2026

An insidious bullying tactic is creeping into school cafeterias across the country: Kids are snapping and sharing photos of other students eating lunch.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 30, 2026

In many cases, both the chains and the institutions themselves profit from these deals, turning cafeterias and lobbies into a quiet engine of revenue.

From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2025

Restaurants and cafeterias have also been locked up as owners take precautionary measures.

From BBC ● Jan. 17, 2025

“But I bet they'll have more books than both our classrooms combined. And Hafsa told me some boarding schools have cafeterias with all the food you can eat and televisions in all the bedrooms.”

From "Amal Unbound" by Aisha Saeed

Related Words

• lunchroom
• snack bar