diner

American  

[dahy-ner] / ˈdaɪ nər /

noun

• diners
  plural

1. a person who dines.

2. a railroad dining car.

3. a restaurant built like such a car.

4. a small, informal, and usually inexpensive restaurant.

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diner British  

/ ˈdaɪnə /

noun

1. a person eating a meal, esp in a restaurant

2. a small restaurant, often at the roadside

3. a fashionable bar, or a section of one, where food is served

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• diners
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of diner

First recorded in 1800–10; dine + -er ¹

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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

See Examples For:

diner diners

That small decision — chips or no chips — moves the diner almost imperceptibly from guest to customer.

From Salon ● Oct. 7, 2026

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

A patron of more than a decade, he first went to the diner on a Valentine’s Day because he was drawn to the giant red heart sign that looms over the restaurant.

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

Justin and Kristina drive there together and are ten minutes late, as always, and to avoid being stuck with Jeff by myself, I wait in the alleyway behind the diner until I see them park.

From "Ask the Passengers" by A.S. King

Fast-casual chains such as Chipotle, Sweetgreen and Cava, a cut above fast food and more likely to serve young, white-collar diners, aren’t.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026

In fact, 37% of surveyed diners said they were going out to eat less often than they did the year before, with most citing higher prices as their main reason for staying in.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 13, 2026

While deals like buy-one-get-one free and $10 promotions for loyalty members initially brought people in, guests rarely converted to regular full-price diners, Chief Financial Officer Jamie McConnell told the WSJ Leadership Institute’s Jennifer Williams.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026

Once diners begin treating evidence of human effort as part of the product, efficiency itself can start looking suspicious.

From Salon ● Oct. 3, 2026

They are the last of the diners to leave.

From "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri

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Related Words

• bistro
• booth
• coffee shop
• saloon

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