diner

noun

din·​er ˈdī-nər 

1

: a person who dines (as in a restaurant) or who is dining

2

a

: dining car

b

chiefly US : a typically small, informal, and inexpensive restaurant that has an extensive menu and that is often made from or designed to resemble a modified railroad dining car

had lunch at a roadside diner

Synonyms

• restaurant
• cafe

Examples of diner in a Sentence

we'll just grab a quick hamburger at the local diner

Recent Examples on the Web

Avery is very quickly excluded from the suspect pool thanks to the time stamp on a photo of her and her father enjoying dinner together on their own at a local diner. —Sophie Brookover, Vulture, 31 Oct. 2025

Shawnie Russell, a 22-year-old waiter at a diner in an adjacent town, said the singer’s ICE lyric hit close to home. —Tyler Kingkade, NBC news, 31 Oct. 2025

Health inspectors closed the Sacramento diner after discovering more than a dozen dead and live German cockroaches on the cook’s line and on a glue trap. —Sacbee.com, 31 Oct. 2025

Videos of diners who were surprised to see the singer at one of the restaurant chain’s locations have also gone viral. —Natalia Cano, Billboard, 31 Oct. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1815, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing diner

• diner-out

Rhymes for diner

• finer
• liner
• miner
• minor
• schreiner
• seiner
• shiner
• shriner
• signer
• viner
• weiner
• airliner

Kids Definition

diner

noun

din·​er ˈdī-nər 

1

: one that dines

2

a

: dining car

b

: a restaurant in the shape of a railroad car