diner
Americannoun
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diners
plural
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a person who dines.
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a railroad dining car.
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a restaurant built like such a car.
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a small, informal, and usually inexpensive restaurant.
noun
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a person eating a meal, esp in a restaurant
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a small restaurant, often at the roadside
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a fashionable bar, or a section of one, where food is served
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of diner
Explanation
A diner is a person who's eating a meal, and it's also a word for a casual restaurant. If you pass by a diner in a diner, check out what's on his plate. It could be anything from eggs over easy to salisbury steak. If you dine in a cafe you're a diner, and if you eat in the dining car on a train, you can call it a diner too. Your favorite neighborhood diner — a casual restaurant that keeps late hours and serves a variety of food — is actually named after these railroad restaurants. The original diners, from the 1930s, were shaped like train cars, often clad in stainless steel, and had long, narrow space inside with stools along a counter.
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 restaurant has always been an experience, but today’s chefs have more opportunities to shape that experience before a diner ever walks through the door.
From Salon ● Sep. 1, 2026
The scallion-brush presentation only works if the kitchen and the diner are both already in on it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026
For nearly five decades, they served up diner classics like steak and eggs and a hearty stack of pancakes while infusing the meals with touches that showcased their Chinese heritage.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026
By 2015, as smartphones became ubiquitous, competitors like Resy, Tock, Reserve and SevenRooms pitched slicker apps for customers and iPad interfaces for restaurants, along with better business terms and access to diner data for establishments.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
A group of girls entered the diner, taking the stools at the counter.
From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny
The company says loyalty members visit about three times as often as other customers, so the opportunity is turning casual diners into regulars, leaning on personalized offers rather than blasting the same message to everyone.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026
Apps such as First Table, which operates across 21 UK cities, as well as Ireland, New Zealand and Australia, give diners 50% off food when they book a participating restaurant's first or last dining slot.
From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2026
He talked about spending time in Mexico and realizing how much depth and labor went into dishes that diners elsewhere might casually categorize as “Mexican food.”
From Salon ● Sep. 1, 2026
Regular diners can progress through a bronze, silver and gold system unlocking perks from free dough balls to hot and soft drinks on the house.
From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2026
I pulled my own shoulders back and twirled my parasol as Ms. Lacey concluded the show to light applause from the diners.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
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.
