café
1 Americannoun
plural
cafés-
a small, unpretentious restaurant, often with exterior seating on a patio or extending onto the sidewalk.
- Synonyms:
- tearoom, lunchroom, bistro, coffeehouse
-
I pick up a café and a croissant on my commute in to work every morning.
noun
noun
-
a small or inexpensive restaurant or coffee bar, serving light meals and refreshments
-
a corner shop or grocer
Spelling
See resume 2.
Etymology
Origin of café1
First recorded in 1780–90; from French: literally, “coffee”; coffee
Origin of CAFE2
C(orporate) A(verage) F(uel) E(conomy)
Compare meaning
How does cafe compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
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.
Back at Naab Cafe, where “Make Iran Great Again” signs and photos of Iran’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi hung in the windows facing Westwood Boulevard, Khaleghian and a growing group of friends gathered around a pair of outdoor tables, each of them leaping from their seats to greet each new arrival with embraces and exclamations of “javid Shah” — long live the shah.
From Los Angeles Times
Their waiter Amir, who preferred not to share his last name, ferried packed peach-and-pineapple hookahs and tall glasses of pressed watermelon juice from the cafe’s kitchen to the table.
From Los Angeles Times
Horning said the former CEO was dismissed “with cause,” that he tries to hire the right people and get out of their way, that all the lifts pass safety requirements, and that the cafe is awaiting permitting.
A popular lift-top cafe closed for rebuilding with no signs of reopening.
The pair were the original Neiman Marxists, the son peacocking in handsome leggings over café au lait trousers; the mother a cosmopolitan who loved shopping on Fifth Avenue in New York and hated the drab gray of Moscow.
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.