culture vulture

noun

Slang.

1. a person with an excessive or pretentious interest in the arts.

culture vulture

noun

1. informal,  a person considered to be excessively, and often pretentiously, interested in the arts

Word History and Origins

Origin of culture vulture¹

First recorded in 1945–50

Idioms and Phrases

An individual with a consuming or excessive interest in the arts. For example, A relentless culture vulture, she dragged her children to every museum in town. This slangy term may have been originated by Ogden Nash, who wrote: “There is a vulture Who circles above The carcass of culture” (Free Wheeling, 1931). [1940s]

Example Sentences

As someone who was bitterly labelled as a "culture vulture" by a British grime artist in 2019, the Canadian certainly got the opportunity to set the record straight over the weekend.

From BBC

“Sinners” is culture vulture bait, laden with multiple meanings and dog-eared history pages, and who can resist a puzzle?

From Salon

"Sinners" is culture vulture bait, laden with multiple meanings and dog-eared history pages, and who can resist a puzzle?

From Salon

Co-founder Jerett Wasserman recorded a series of Instagram videos that decried the recalls as retaliation for questioning The Times’ reporting, and suggested the company was the target of “Culture Vulture’s.”

From Los Angeles Times

While he readily concedes that he is no culture vulture himself, Bloomberg sees the arts as an important driver of economic development, which guided his approach to cultural capital projects as mayor.

From New York Times