dine out

Meaning

To 'dine out' means to eat a meal at a restaurant instead of cooking and eating at home. It is a slightly more elegant alternative to 'eat out,' but it is still highly common in everyday conversations. People often use it when discussing travel plans, weekend activities, or special culinary experiences.

Examples

• We decided to dine out at a local Italian bistro on our last night in Rome.

  We decided to dine out at a local Italian bistro on our last night in Rome.

• Do you prefer to cook at the Airbnb or dine out at nearby cafes?

  Do you prefer to cook at the Airbnb or dine out at nearby cafes?

• Since we were on vacation, we dined out for almost every single meal.

  Since we were on vacation, we dined out for almost every single meal.

• It can get quite expensive to dine out in major tourist cities like London.

  It can get quite expensive to dine out in major tourist cities like London.

• They love to dine out on weekends to try different international cuisines.

  They love to dine out on weekends to try different international cuisines.

Common Mistakes

• ✗ We dined out a nice dinner yesterday.

  ✓ We dined out at a nice restaurant yesterday.

  'Dine out' is an intransitive verb phrase. You cannot follow it directly with a noun object like 'a nice dinner'.

• ✗ I want to dine out home tonight.

  ✓ I want to dine out tonight.

  'Dine out' literally means eating away from home, so adding 'home' is contradictory.

Related Expressions

Practice

• Instead of cooking tonight, let's ___ at that new seafood place.

  💡 To eat at a restaurant instead of at home.

  Show answer

  dine out

• When traveling, I prefer to ___ so I can experience the local food culture.

  💡 Phrasal verb meaning to have a meal at a restaurant.

  Show answer

  dine out