[Vocabulary] Dinner or dining table?

[naweewra]

Hello,

We say a "dining room". What does we should call the table? I have heard both "dinner table" and "dining table". Are they exactly the same thing?

For some reason, I feel like "dining table" refers to the table as a piece of furniture.

We have just bought a new wooden dining table.

I left my key on the dining table.

But with "dinner table", I usually here it in phrases like "dinner table conversation". Is there a "dining table conversation"?

Or this small difference is just purely my imagination?

Best regards,

Nawee

 

[Raymott]

It's purely your imagination, in my opinion. I call it a "dinner table" in all circumstances.

 

[MikeNewYork]

In AmE, if the table is in the dining room, it is often called "dining room table" That distinguishes it from "kitchen table", which is also used for dining. One can eat or have a conversation on/at either. When I was in school, my brother and I did homework on the dining room table. We usually at meals on the kitchen table.