Words / C1

ky-oor-RAYT-uh/kjʊəˈreɪtə/

A curator selects and looks after a museum, gallery, or collection: the exhibition curator, curate a show. Caretaker looks after a building; librarian looks after books in a library. Curate as a verb has spread to playlists and shops — keep the collection sense in academic writing. Do not call a shop assistant a curator.

Meaning

A person who selects and looks after items in a museum, gallery, or collection.

Examples

• “The curator reordered the exhibition around one painter.”
• “The curator hung the sketches in the order they were made, not by fame.”
• “A guest curator from another museum rewrote the wall texts.”

Good to know

Someone who looks after a collection. Building: caretaker. Books in a library: librarian. Verb: curate (collection sense in exams).

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