Meaning & use
dining alfresco
Last updated
Meaning
phraseuncountable
The activity or practice of eating a meal outdoors, especially in a restaurant or café setting.
Grammar: Used as a noun phrase; it cannot be plural or take 'a'.
The restaurant offers dining alfresco on its terrace during the summer months.
We enjoyed dining alfresco at a small café by the river.
Dining alfresco is one of the great pleasures of a Mediterranean holiday.
Common combinations
- enjoy dining alfresco
- We enjoy dining alfresco whenever the weather is nice.
- dining alfresco area
- The hotel has a lovely dining alfresco area overlooking the sea.
- perfect for dining alfresco
- The climate here is perfect for dining alfresco all year round.
Synonyms and how they differ
- outdoor dining
- This is the more common and neutral term, especially in American English, and can refer to any meal eaten outside, not just at a restaurant.
- eating out
- This means eating at a restaurant, but does not specify that it is outdoors; it can be indoors or outdoors.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'dining alfresco' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Dining alfresco' is an uncountable noun phrase, so it does not take 'a' (as in option 0) and cannot be used as a verb with an object (as in options 2 and 3). Option 1 uses it correctly as the subject of the sentence.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “dining alfresco”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.