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

Her fluent, immersive, black-and-white images, often 10 feet long, have put her in the forefront of a cohort of Asian artists who are attracting attention from curators and collectors. —Dodie Kazanjian, Vogue, 20 Apr. 2024

For the ambitious group exhibition, the house enlisted the Italian curator Federica Sala to pair 10 international designers with sixteen Italian craft workshops. —Monica Khemsurov, New York Times, 19 Apr. 2024

Vincenzo Bugno, who heads the Berlinale World Cinema Fund and is curator of the Torino Film Feature Lab, became artistic director of South Tyrol’s Bolzano Film Festival Bozen last year. —Nick Vivarelli, Variety, 18 Apr. 2024

By Michelle Obama April 17, 2024 7:10 AM EDT Every once in a while, my good friend Thelma Golden will meet someone who is shocked to learn this tiny, energetic, and dynamic woman is a paradigm-shifting curator. —TIME, 17 Apr. 2024

His ideas have particularly struck a chord with readers who deal in aesthetics—artists, curators, designers, and architects—even though Han has not quite been embraced by philosophy academe. —Kyle Chayka, The New Yorker, 17 Apr. 2024

And the rise of its AI features, the algorithm’s progeny, will probably only make things bleaker for those human curators. —Laura Bratton, Quartz, 8 Apr. 2024

Freddy immediately picked the baby up, according to associate animal curator Laura Klutts. —Harriet Ramos, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 3 Apr. 2024

The call was transferred to Johnston, curator of transportation at the American history museum. —George Petras, USA TODAY, 11 Apr. 2024

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

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