expire
Americanverb (used without object)
-
expires,
present (3rd person singular)
-
expired,
past participle, past
-
expiring
present participle
-
to come to an end; terminate, as a contract, guarantee, or offer.
-
to emit the last breath; die.
-
to breathe out.
-
to die out, as a fire.
verb (used with object)
-
expires,
present (3rd person singular)
-
expired,
past participle, past
-
expiring
present participle
-
to breathe out; emit (air) from the lungs.
-
Archaic. to give off, emit, or eject.
verb
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(intr) to finish or run out; cease; come to an end
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to breathe out (air); exhale
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(intr) to die
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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expiresimple
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expiressimple
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have expiredperfect
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has expiredperfect
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am expiringprogressive
-
are expiringprogressive
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is expiringprogressive
-
have been expiringperfect progressive
-
has been expiringperfect progressive
Past
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expiredsimple
-
had expiredperfect
-
was expiringprogressive
-
were expiringprogressive
-
had been expiringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of expire
1375–1425; late Middle English < Latin ex ( s ) pīrāre to breathe out, equivalent to ex- ex- 1 + spīrāre to breathe
Explanation
If something — like milk or a free shipping coupon — expires, it is no longer usable or valid. When you expire, you will be dead. The verb expire comes from the Latin expirare, meaning “breathe out,” and the modern use retains that ancient meaning. The expanded, and more commonly used, meaning of expire is that the breath has — literally or figuratively — departed. When you expire your breath, you breathe out; you exhale. Things with a limited shelf life sometimes offer an expiration date that lets you know when they will expire: yogurt, frozen burritos, and even contracts for temporary employment. But some things expire in their own time: life, love, and car batteries.
Vocabulary lists containing expire
"The Monkey's Paw" by W. W. Jacobs
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Vocabulary from texts about wild animals
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This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for January 1–January 7, 2022
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Wall Street will have to navigate a “quadruple witching” Friday, the once-a-quarter event when certain stock-index futures, stock-index options, stock options and single-stock futures all expire.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 18, 2026
Hall's bankruptcy restrictions, which last 12 months, will expire on 7 November.
From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026
Buck’s current deal was set to expire following this season.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026
Prenups generally don’t expire automatically, although couples can include an expiration date.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 8, 2026
Gradually, painfully, the flames seemed to expire in Tally’s chest, the cough dying a quiet death inside her.
From "Uglies" by Scott Westerfeld
Unifor president Lana Payne said union officials are weighing their next steps, as the current labor deal with Stellantis expires on Sept. 20.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
Once the introductory rate expires, interest rates on any balance carried over monthly can rocket above 25%.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 16, 2026
Leaving center stage will be more difficult for Ronaldo, whose contract with Saudi Arabian club Al-Nassr — a deal that reportedly pays him around $6 million a week — expires next year.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2026
The Darfur arms embargo, in place for over two decades, expires on Saturday.
From Barron's ● Sep. 11, 2026
You get the low rates after Labor Day, and your lease expires in June.
From "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America" by Barbara Ehrenreich
However, as harassment is a summary only offence then it carries a statute of limitations of six months so would have expired back in June 2022.
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026
The spokesman said that as the statute of limitations for a harassment case had expired, a malicious communications case was considered in 2025 "when the victim made contact".
From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026
Millions of Americans dropped their Affordable Care Act plans when subsidies expired and now struggle to pay.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 6, 2026
The company took a considerable blow in May of last year, when the de minimis exemption – which allowed it to ship cheap goods to the U.S. without paying customs – expired.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 1, 2026
Did he know that his driver’s license had also expired, and the vehicle was uninsured as well?
From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer
But instead of expiring on Aug. 31, operations were set to end on Dec. 31, after which a yearlong “drawing down” period will commence—as though it takes 12 months to cease doing nothing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026
This summer, though, with her contract expiring at the end of Chelsea's worst season in seven years, she decided to sign on for another 12 months.
From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026
The Sparks, meanwhile, are stuck in their rebuild limbo, with several veterans on long-term contracts and just Rae Burrell on an expiring contract.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 2, 2026
So there’s a roll yield — a return in the price the fund gets, which is the difference between the expiring contract and the new one.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 29, 2026
Chairs lined the walls, divided evenly by magazine tables, and there was the usual rubber tree expiring in the corner.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
