curate

[noun kyoo r-it; verb kyoo-reyt, kyoo r-eyt]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR curate ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

Chiefly British. a member of the clergy employed to assist a rector or vicar.

any ecclesiastic entrusted with the cure of souls, as a parish priest.

verb (used with object), cu·rat·ed, cu·rat·ing.

to take charge of (a museum) or organize (an art exhibit): to curate a photography show.

to pull together, sift through, and select for presentation, as music or website content: “We curate our merchandise with a sharp eye for trending fashion,” the store manager explained.

Origin of curate

1300–50; Middle English curat (< Anglo-French) < Medieval Latin cūrātus, equivalent to Latin cūr(a) care + -ātus -ate¹

Related formscu·rat·ic

[kyoo-rat-ik] /kyʊˈræt ɪk/, cu·rat·i·cal, adjectivecu·rate·ship, nouncu·ra·tion, nounsub·cu·rate, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for curate

cleric, clergyman, assistant, pastor, priest, minister, dominie

Examples from the Web for curate

Contemporary Examples of curate

For his blog, Otting teams with his mom to curate each post.
Which Preteen Fashion Blogger Will Be Tavi 2.0?
Justin Jones
June 16, 2014
And, the moderators attempt to curate the content with the same respect.
How the Syrian War Subreddit Scoops Mainstream Media
Nina Strochlic
November 7, 2013
The first stage of his Imago Mundi collection has taken Benetton and his team five years to curate.
Luciano Benetton’s Imago Mundi Exhibition Opens in Venice
Amelia Martyn-Hemphill
August 28, 2013
Last year, festival director Laszlo Jakab Orsos had the idea of asking a special writer to curate a book bag.
Pulitzer Winner Jennifer Egan’s PEN Festival Book Bag
Jennifer Egan
April 23, 2012
According to Diamond, Deitch called him a year ago to propose that he curate Transmission: LA and has been very hands-on since.
Mike D. Curates ‘Transmission LA’ at MOCA Los Angeles
Isabel Wilkinson
April 20, 2012

Historical Examples of curate

He is a curate—a Welsh curate;—you are yet Mr. Beaufort, a rich and a great man.
Night and Morning, Complete
Edward Bulwer-Lytton
A propos of the curate, I forgot to tell you that he is here.
Alice, or The Mysteries, Complete
Edward Bulwer-Lytton
Why did women treat him as though he were a curate and Vernon as though he were a god?
The Incomplete Amorist
E. Nesbit
It was a priest, however, the curate of the parish, who now occupied the house.
The Three Cities Trilogy, Complete
Emile Zola
They rested now upon the bride, now upon the bridegroom, now upon the faces of the rector and his curate.
Henry Dunbar
M. E. Braddon

British Dictionary definitions for curate

curate

noun

a clergyman appointed to assist a parish priest

a clergyman who has the charge of a parish (curate-in-charge)

Irish an assistant barman

Word Origin for curate

C14: from Medieval Latin cūrātus, from cūra spiritual oversight, cure

curate

verb

(tr) to be in charge of (an art exhibition or museum)

Word Origin for curate

C20: back formation from curator

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for curate

late 14c., "spiritual guide," from Medieval Latin curatus "one responsible for the care (of souls)," from Latin curatus, past participle of curare "to take care of" (see cure (v.)). Church of England sense of "paid deputy priest of a parish" first recorded 1550s.