cafetorium

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noun

A large room, usually in a school, used as both a cafeteria and an auditorium.

Scrabble 17

Meanings

nouncafetorium (plural cafetoriums or cafetoria)

plural cafetoriums · plural cafetoria

  1. 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 14
    1 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
APA

cafetorium. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cafetorium

MLA

“cafetorium.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cafetorium. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cafetorium,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cafetorium.

Source: cafetorium on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.