curator

noun

cu·​ra·​tor ˈkyu̇r-ˌā-tər 

ˈkyər-;

kyu̇-ˈrā-;

ˈkyu̇r-ə-,

ˈkyər- 

plural curators

: a person who oversees or manages a place (such as a museum or zoo) that offers exhibits

"My passion for animal care and collection management really drove me to become a curator."

—Scott Newland

also : a person at a museum, zoo, etc. who is in charge of a specific collection or subject area

the curator of manuscripts

curatorial

ˌkyu̇r-ə-ˈtȯr-ē-əl 

ˌkyər-

adjective

curatorship

ˈkyu̇r-ˌā-tər-ˌship 

ˈkyər-;

kyu̇-ˈrā-;

ˈkyu̇r-ə-

ˈkyər-

noun

Did you know?

In a good-sized art museum, each curator is generally responsible for a single department or collection: European painting, Asian sculpture, Native American art, and so on. Curatorial duties include acquiring new artworks, caring for and repairing objects already owned, discovering frauds and counterfeits, lending artworks to other museums, and mounting exhibitions of everything from Greek sculpture to 20th-century clothing.

Examples of curator in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The traditional data analyst role will evolve into that of an insights curator—someone who doesn’t just run reports, but who also crafts stories from AI outputs, aligns findings with business context, and asks better questions to unlock competitive advantage. —Expert Panel®, Forbes.com, 11 July 2025

In 2022, curators at a museum in Ulm, Germany, began offering scents for patrons to savor while gazing at various paintings in their collection. —Margaret Talbot, New Yorker, 10 July 2025

The Bronx Museum of the Arts has announced Shamim M. Momin as its next director and chief curator. —News Desk, Artforum, 10 July 2025

Museum staff revised and neutralized some of curator Dara Jaffe’s accompanying wall text — though some critics, including Michael Schulman of The New Yorker, thought there was little or nothing for which to apologize. —Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune, 9 July 2025

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Latin cūrātor "one who looks after, superintendent, guardian," from cūrāre "to watch over, attend" + -tor, agent suffix — more at cure entry 2

First Known Use

1660, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing curator

• co-curator

Rhymes for curator

• coater
• creator
• debater
• deflator
• dictator
• dilator
• equator
• locator
• mutator
• piscator
• pronator
• relator

Kids Definition

curator

noun

cu·​ra·​tor ˈkyu̇(ə)r-ˌāt-ər  kyu̇-ˈrāt- 

ˈkyu̇r-ət-

: a person in charge of a museum or zoo

curatorship

-ˌship 

noun

Legal Definition

curator

noun

cu·​ra·​tor ˈkyu̇r-ˌā-tər, kyu̇-ˈrā-tər 

in the civil law of Louisiana : a person appointed by a court to care for the property of an absent person or to care for the person or property of someone mentally incapable of doing so compare committee, conservator, guardian, interdict, tutor

curatorship noun

Etymology

Latin, guardian, from curare to take care of