curator

American  

[kyoo-ray-ter, kyoor-ay-, kyoor-uh-ter] / kjʊˈreɪ tər, ˈkjʊər eɪ-, ˈkjʊər ə tər /

noun

• curators
  plural

1. the person in charge of a museum, art collection, etc.

2. a person who selects content for presentation, as on a website.

3. a manager; superintendent.

4. Law. a guardian of a minor or any other person who is unable to care for their own affairs, especially with regard to their property.

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curator British  

/ kjʊəˈreɪtə /

noun

1. the administrative head of a museum, art gallery, or similar institution

2. law a guardian of a minor, mentally ill person, etc

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• curatorship
  noun
• subcurator
  noun
• subcuratorship
  noun
• curatorial
  adjective
• subcuratorial
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• curators
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of curator

First recorded in 1325–75; from Latin, equivalent to cūrā(re) “to care for, attend to” ( see cure) + -tor -tor

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Explanation

If you are the curator of the school art show, you choose which pieces will be in it and decide how they will be displayed. A curator is someone who manages an art collection or exhibit. The kind of artwork a curator manages does not have to be the visual kind. You can curate a series of readings by selecting which authors read in it and who reads together. A curator is the person who gives the overall shape and feel to an art exhibit. In law, if you are the curator of someone's estate, you have been given legal power to manage it for someone who is too young or mentally unable to do it themselves.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

curator curators

The Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History houses specimens collected by William Ronald Heyer, a former curator of amphibians and reptiles.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 3, 2026

"He played in Scotland multiple times in his career," said curator Svetlana Panova.

From BBC ● Nov. 2, 2026

This definition comes from “Doll Dressing,” an exhibition at the Museum at FIT, organized by its senior curator of costume, Colleen Hill.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2026

Organized by the Frick’s curator Giulio Dalvit and a team of experts assembled by him, “Siena: The Art of Bronze” is a delight and an education.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2026

He couldn’t help himself: Clarence was a curator of Cree.

From "The Marrow Thieves" by Cherie Dimaline

The Post reported that historic items are typically moved around the Pentagon premises by trained curators.

From Barron's ● Oct. 22, 2026

According to Ms. Murck, who met me for a walk-through, when it came to the selection process the curators “went to our strengths and to the China Institute Gallery exhibitions that influenced our scholarship.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2026

Lacking the necessary technology and expertise to answer that question, museum curators stored the mysterious fragments while competing explanations remained unresolved.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 6, 2026

Williams College Museum of Art curators did not respond to requests for comment.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026

Then, just as the public, the curators, and the archaeologists waited anxiously to see what would be discovered next, the divers announced they had run into a serious problem.

From "Shipwrecked!" by Martin W. Sandler

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Related Words

• administrator
• conservator
• custodian
• director
• manager

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