curator

American  

[kyoo-rey-ter, kyoor-ey-, kyoor-uh-ter] / kyʊˈreɪ tər, ˈkyʊər eɪ-, ˈkyʊər ə tər /

noun

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  

/ ˌkjʊərəˈtɔːrɪəl, 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

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

Etymology

Origin of curator

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

Example Sentences

"Together they invite us to see the city itself as a kind of artwork: layered, complex and made up of many different experiences," Gyan Prakash, curator of the exhibition, told the BBC.

From BBC • Apr. 3, 2026

She is a poet, musician, activist, sound designer, organizer, curator, visual artist and Afrofuturist visionary.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 31, 2026

“Seurat and the Sea,” a scholarly and astonishingly beautiful show now at the Courtauld Gallery, and organized by Karen Serres, the museum’s senior curator of paintings, fills that critical lacuna.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 28, 2026

The 79-year-old president asked a curator if he could “have taken Elvis in a fight.”

From Salon • Mar. 23, 2026

Paupardin ran to the person unfortunate enough to now be in charge—the curator of Egyptian antiquities, a man named Georges Bénédite.

From "The Mona Lisa Vanishes" by Nicholas Day

Related Words

• administrator
• conservator
• custodian
• director
• manager