Too old to be used, past the point of expiration, as in This milk is out of date . [Early 1600s]
Old-fashioned, no longer in style, as in Dean has three suits but they're all out of date . [Early 1800s]
First recorded in 1620–30
Something that's out-of-date is either old-fashioned or so old that it's invalid. That typewriter in your closet is out-of-date, as well as that acid wash denim vest. An expired driver's license is out-of-date, and the out-of-date milk in your refrigerator is pretty likely to smell sour (depending on how out-of-date it is). Another way to be out-of-date is to be hopelessly unfashionable, like your mom's out-of-date bell bottom jeans or your grandparents' out-of-date kitchen, with its appliances from 1970. You can also use the words obsolete or outdated to mean out-of-date.
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
However, that out-of-date abode is located on a stunning parcel of land that covers more than 16 acres, including 4-plus acres of “income-producing Cabernet Sauvignon,” according to its previous listing.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 2, 2026
While their subplot is a worthy ding at today’s avalanche of junk, heaven help us if “Toy Story 6” co-stars an out-of-date cellphone.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 18, 2026
BBC journalists were able to order so-called skinny jabs to Northern Ireland from Voy and MedExpress using false data and out-of-date images, with no further verification required.
From BBC ● Feb. 20, 2026
Designed by Edward Durell Stone, it suffers from the out-of-date look of similar 1960s architecture.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 6, 2026
Later, returning home, he regaled Blanca with accounts of the vulgarity of these stale, out-of-date families, whose daughters were still chaperoned and whose gentlemen wore scapulars.
From "The House of the Spirits: A Novel" by Isabel Allende
They are out of date as methods of calculating prices, because they are calculated using old-fashioned, preinternet methods and data.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 2, 2026
He said it was about redistributing food, so that every evening the food that is about to go out of date is taken and given out to people in the city who most need it.
From BBC ● May 6, 2026
Federal investigators should examine what the security policies were, what type of attacks they were designed to prevent, and whether that protocol was out of date, Shortland said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 26, 2026
Official figures on the prison population in Equatorial Guinea are scarce and often out of date.
From Barron's ● Apr. 23, 2026
Why are you so out of date, Bessie?
From "Franny and Zooey" by J. D. Salinger
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.
