cater
Americanverb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
verb
-
(intr; foll by for or to) to provide what is required or desired (for)
to cater for a need
cater to your tastes
-
to provide food, services, etc (for)
we cater for parties
to cater a banquet
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
catersimple
-
caterssimple
-
have cateredperfect
-
has cateredperfect
-
am cateringprogressive
-
are cateringprogressive
-
is cateringprogressive
-
have been cateringperfect progressive
-
has been cateringperfect progressive
Past
-
cateredsimple
-
had cateredperfect
-
was cateringprogressive
-
were cateringprogressive
-
had been cateringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of cater
First recorded in 1350–1400; verb use of obsolete cater, Middle English catour, variant of acatour “buyer,” from Anglo-French, from acat(er) “to buy” ( see cate) + -our -or 2
Explanation
To cater means to supply food for meetings or celebrations. If you're having a big barbecue party but would rather hang out with your friends than grill, you could pay someone to cater it. In Middle English, the food supply in a big household was known as the cates, and so to cater meant keeping the pantry full. These days, caterers don't do pantries. They cook food for many different households or offices. Cater has also come to mean "giving what is desired or needed." You might cater to your grandfather by bringing him tea, reading to him, and laughing at his bad jokes.
Vocabulary lists containing cater
Talk Like Shakespeare Day, List 2
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
"Curtis Aikens and the American Dream" and "Go For It!"
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Mardi Gras: Food
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
British fans are hoping for a homecoming event, but it is understood Saudi organisers and broadcasters favour a venue in the United States to cater for American audiences.
From BBC ● Jul. 25, 2026
But in between, Charlotte, now 43, says they fought over who got the first look at the mail-order catalogs that, at the time, were the first to cater specifically to a tween and teen-girl audience.
From Salon ● Jul. 18, 2026
For investors, it also creates long-term opportunities in the sectors that cater to older adults, from tech-enabled “aging in place” services to senior housing and multigenerational wealth transfer.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 15, 2026
Toshifumi Suzuki realized early on that convenience stores should cater to local tastes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
“I cater birthdays and bat mitzvahs,” she says.
From "A Place at the Table" by Saadia Faruqi and Laura Shovan
While Anthropic gets almost all of its revenue from corporate customers and is the market-share leader in that area, OpenAI caters to a larger swath of users.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 8, 2026
DUP MP Jim Shannon highlighted this lack of oversight in a sector that predominantly caters for "sleep-deprived and vulnerable parents".
From BBC ● Jun. 8, 2026
Tesla also caters to retail investors in ways other companies don’t, reserving time for questions submitted by everyday investors on quarterly earnings calls and often inviting them to events.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 5, 2026
Toll Brothers’ business model, focused on luxury move-up homes, supports higher margins and caters to less affordability-sensitive buyers.
From Barron's ● May 19, 2026
“The cruise business has totally evolved,” said Oivind Mathisen, editor of the newsletter Cruise Industry News, “and become a business that caters to moderate incomes.”
From "Class Matters" by The New York Times
In Auckland, the Hāngī Master, Rewi Spraggon, honors his ancestors with his traditional hāngī catered cooking.
From Salon ● Jul. 26, 2026
It might not be the easiest on the eye against strong defences but it feels catered to tournament football, providing England a base upon which they dominate the ball, while taking calculated risks.
From BBC ● Jun. 28, 2026
UFO is just one of several ETFs catered to the business of space.
From Barron's ● May 11, 2026
We see samurai as civil servants, patrons of new fields of study like natural history, scholars of Western knowledge, and, of course, as customers in the thriving pleasure districts that catered to their varied tastes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 7, 2026
Ifemelu was not sure how she helped out, since the events were catered and the children went to bed early, but she sensed, beneath the lightness of Kimberly's invitation, something close to a need.
From "Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Michael Reynolds, from Shawbury, used to work in catering before he was made redundant during the coronavirus pandemic.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
Kate said she and Matt were grateful to family and friends for their support, including her best friend Jade Foley, who stepped in to pay a deposit for the hastily arranged new catering.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
No other city has dozens of restaurants and bars in such proximity, run by and catering to young Latinos.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 6, 2026
Graduates will enter an economy struggling with weak consumer demand, where year-on-year retail sales contracted for the first time in three years in May, and revenue in the catering sector rose a paltry 0.6 percent.
From Barron's ● Jul. 2, 2026
I’m sitting on my windowsill because I’m still in my shrimp-flavored catering pants.
From "Ask the Passengers" by A.S. King
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.
