culture vulture

American  

noun

Slang.

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

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culture vulture British  

noun

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

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culture vulture Idioms  

1. 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]

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Etymology

Origin of culture vulture

First recorded in 1945–50

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 • Jul. 12, 2025

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

From Salon • May 2, 2025

Supreme Court and lifelong culture vulture, was a Barbra Streisand fan.

From Washington Post • Feb. 22, 2023

Unleash your inner culture vulture at one of these arts-immersive hotels.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 28, 2019

Monsieur Jourdain, the hapless hero of Molière’s 1670 masterpiece, “Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme,” is the original culture vulture.

From New York Times • Jul. 21, 2016