cater

verb

ca·​ter ˈkā-tər 

catered; catering; caters

intransitive verb

1

: to provide a supply of food

cater for a large party

2

: to supply what is required or desired

catering to middle-class tastes

transitive verb

: to provide food and service for

catered the banquet

caterer

ˈkā-tər-ər 

noun

Synonyms

• feed
• board
• sustain
• serve

Examples of cater in a Sentence

The restaurant caters for parties.

A local restaurant catered the banquet.

The awards ceremony will be a catered event.

Recent Examples on the Web

The financing for these investments could be catered for insurance capital. —Dave Smith, Fortune, 7 Oct. 2025

Dinner, beer, wine and light concessions will be available; a full buffet dinner, catered by the UA-PTC Culinary Institute, is available with advance purchase, for $25. —Eric E. Harrison, Arkansas Online, 1 Oct. 2025

The couple plans to have a wedding reception next year that Marcia Selden Catering will cater. —Ashlyn Robinette, PEOPLE, 1 Oct. 2025

Competitoor’s platform tracks luxury retailers such as Bergdorf, Bloomingdale’s, Farfetch, Levelshoes, MyTheresa, Neiman Marcus and Net-a-porter, which cater more to high-income consumers. —Vicki M. Young, Footwear News, 29 Sep. 2025

Word History

Etymology

obsolete cater buyer of provisions, from Middle English catour, short for acatour, from Anglo-French, from acater to buy — more at cate

First Known Use

1580, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1

Phrases Containing cater

• cater-cousin
• cater for
• cater to

Rhymes for cater

• crater
• frater
• freighter
• gator
• grater
• greater
• hater
• krater
• later
• plater
• prater
• rater

Kids Definition

cater

verb

ca·​ter ˈkāt-ər 

1

: to provide a supply of food

cater for parties

2

: to supply what is wanted or needed

caterer

-ər-ər 

noun