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

• board
• feed
• provision
• victual

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

Apps and platforms may cater more explicitly to ideological preferences. —Suzanne Blake, MSNBC Newsweek, 22 Apr. 2025

And the restaurant-adjacent gigs (catering, cooking for a moneyed couple) in which work meant facilitating someone else’s daily routines or celebrations, leaving little time for either in your own life. —Bill Addison, Los Angeles Times, 19 Apr. 2025

At the Woodland site, a new elementary school will also be built, with similar early childhood and family empowerment wings as well as a Global Academy section catered toward international students. —Ilana Arougheti, Kansas City Star, 9 Apr. 2025

Clearly, then, the System 6 is designed to cater for the lots of power and impact for not much buck soundbar crowd. —John Archer, Forbes.com, 2 Apr. 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