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
-
(intr) to finish or run out; cease; come to an end
-
to breathe out (air); exhale
-
(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
-
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:
Her student visa is due to expire soon.
From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026
Kelly’s initial order, which he briefly extended, was set to expire Tuesday without additional court action.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
The company delivered 497,099 EVs to consumers in the third quarter of 2025 as consumers pulled up their EV purchases to take advantage of major tax credits that were set to expire.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 2, 2026
During the same period of time, he and the Steelers were unable to come to terms on a contract extension on the rookie deal that was set to expire after this season.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
Jefferson had also shared with Madison his intriguingly utopian suggestion that each generation was sovereign, so that the laws made for one generation should expire after about twenty years.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
Olsen’s contract with Fox expires after this season as well.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 2026
In early European trading, the front-month Brent crude contract, which expires on Tuesday, is up 2.8% at $107.15 a barrel, while the second-month contract trades at $99.15 a barrel.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 28, 2026
Finalized funding would have to come in December, when Congress’ stopgap government funding expires and lawmakers could pass a budget package.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 22, 2026
The Spaniard's current deal expires at the end of this season but talks over a new contract have been ongoing for a number of months.
From BBC ● Sep. 22, 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
The 26-year-old winger is out of contract after his deal expired in the summer and has been exploring a number of options.
From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026
But in August 2025, India's junior foreign minister Kirti Vardhan Singh told parliament that both agreements had expired.
From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026
And instead of kicking a field goal, the team was left kicking itself when time expired.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026
Deliveries fell 2.1% short of the record 497,099 vehicles Tesla delivered a year earlier, when U.S. buyers rushed to claim the $7,500 federal EV tax credit before it expired at the end of September 2025.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 8, 2026
In 1525 Wayna Qhapaq suddenly got sick and expired in his Ecuadorian retreat.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
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
That year, the park service moved to shut down a local oyster farm, whose lease was expiring.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
For the stocks listed in this table, that would mean buying the straddles expiring on Aug. 21, or the next nearest date if that expiration date doesn’t exist for a particular stock.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 14, 2026
Franklin was himself within a day or two of expiring when he and the other survivors were rescued by a band of m6tis.
From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer
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