Meanings
plural cafetoriums · plural cafetoria
- A large room, usually in a school, used as both a cafeteria and an auditorium.
There is another combination which is regarded favorably, particularly where economy of space is a necessity. This is the combined cafeteria-auditorium unit and is often called a cafetorium or an auditeria.
1948, University of the State of New York, Planning The School Auditorium, page 141 more example
Then Mitchell reminded his mother that they both needed money to pay for their lunches, which meant a search for the exact change to pay for two lunches so they would not slow up the line in the cafetorium.
1967, Beverly Cleary, Mitch and Amy, HarperCollins, published 2009, →ISBN, pages 86–87
Origin
Blend of cafeteria + auditorium. First attested in the around 1950.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
cafetorium. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cafetorium
“cafetorium.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cafetorium. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cafetorium,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cafetorium.
Source: cafetorium on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.