Meaning & use
cafeteria
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Meaning
nouncountable
A self-service restaurant where customers choose food from a counter and carry it to their table.
Grammar: Countable: a cafeteria, the cafeteria, two cafeterias.
Patterns
- eat in a cafeteria
- the school cafeteria
- cafeteria food
We had lunch in the cafeteria at the museum.
The hospital cafeteria is open to visitors from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Students complained about the quality of the cafeteria food.
Word forms
| plural | cafeterias |
|---|
Common combinations
- school cafeteria
- The school cafeteria serves pizza every Friday.
- cafeteria style
- The wedding reception was cafeteria style, with guests serving themselves.
- cafeteria tray
- He stacked his dirty dishes on the cafeteria tray.
- cafeteria worker
- The cafeteria worker smiled as she handed me a plate.
Synonyms and how they differ
- canteen
- More common in British English for a workplace or military dining room; cafeteria is used for schools, hospitals, and public places.
- diner
- A diner is a casual restaurant with table service, not self-service like a cafeteria.
- buffet
- A buffet often means a meal where food is laid out on a table and you serve yourself, but it can also be a formal meal; cafeteria refers to the place itself.
Word family
- cafeteria-style adjective
- Describing a system where people serve themselves, as in a cafeteria.
Commonly confused: cafeteria or café?
cafeteria vs café
A café is a small coffee shop or restaurant, often with table service, while a cafeteria is self-service and often larger.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'cafeteria' correctly?
Choose one answer.
A cafeteria is self-service, so leaving a tray on the table is typical. Option 1 is wrong because cafeterias usually don't have table service for coffee and cake; option 2 is wrong because cafeterias don't have waiters serving three-course meals; option 3 is wrong because 'fancy' doesn't fit the self-service, often institutional nature of a cafeteria.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “cafeteria”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.