What does catered mean?
"Catered" is the past tense and past participle of the verb "cater," which means to supply food and drink — and often associated services such as staffing and tableware — for a party, wedding, conference, or other gathering. The word most often appears either as an action ("the company catered three events that weekend") or as a descriptive modifier for occasions handled by professional food providers ("a fully catered reception"). Because catering implies outside expertise rather than home cooking, describing an event as catered tends to lend it an air of polish and formality. The term derives ultimately from the medieval French verb acater, meaning "to buy," reflecting the caterer's original role as a purchaser and purveyor of provisions. Today the word is standard throughout the English-speaking world and is especially common in event planning, hospitality, and business contexts, where phrases like "catered lunch" and "catered affair" are everyday currency.
verbPast tense and past participle of the verb "cater": to provide food, drink, and sometimes other services for a social gathering or event. It can also describe an event for which such food service has been provided.
- (of an event or occasion) provided with food and refreshments by a professional supplier: 'a catered luncheon'.
- Having supplied food and drink for a function (as the past action of a person or company): 'they catered the conference last year'.
"The wedding reception was catered by a local bistro."
"The charity gala was fully catered by one of the city's finest restaurants."
"They catered over forty corporate events before expanding into weddings."
"Cater" comes from an old French word meaning simply "to buy" — so every catered dinner party traces back to someone being sent shopping.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of catered
The verb "cater" entered English in the Middle English period from the noun "cater" or "caterer," meaning a buyer of provisions, which came from Old North French acater, "to buy." This in turn descends from Vulgar Latin accaptare, built on Latin captare, a frequentative of capere, "to take or seize." Words like "capture" and "captive" share this deep Latin ancestry. The modern sense of supplying food for events developed by the seventeenth century as professional purveyors took charge of banquets and entertainments.
Related word forms
How catered is actually used
As an adjective-like participle, "catered" typically signals professional food service and carries a slightly upscale connotation, implying that no cooking was done in-house. The verb "cater" also extends figuratively in British English to "cater to/for" people's needs or tastes, though that sense belongs more properly to the base verb than to this inflected form.