food court

American  

noun

• food courts
  plural

1. a space, as in a shopping mall, with a concentration of fast-food stalls and usually a common eating area.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• food courts
  plural

Etymology

Origin of food court

First recorded in 1980–85

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

food court

There’s an actual food competition to snag a vending spot at the weekly Wat Thai Buddhist temple food court.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 3, 2026

Halfway through the game, police in Bogotá responded to noise complaints from residents in the apartments around the food court and ordered the operators to turn off the screens they had mounted.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 18, 2026

At the end of the day, the women from Ohio made their way back to Union Station, convening in the basement food court to wait for the bus.

From Salon ● Nov. 29, 2025

I met him in the food court within eyeline of where it all happened.

From Slate ● Oct. 30, 2025

The mall had a food court, an arcade for Zach.

From "Zeitoun" by Dave Eggers