expiration

American  

[ek-spuh-rey-shuhn] / ˌɛk spəˈreɪ ʃən /

noun

expirations plural

1. a coming to an end; termination; close.

   the expiration of a contract.

2. the act of expiring, or breathing out; emission of air from the lungs.

3. Archaic. death.

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expiration British  

/ ˌɛkspɪˈreɪʃən /

noun

1. the finish of something; ending; expiry

2. the act, process, or sound of breathing out

3. rare a last breath; death

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expiration Scientific  

/ ĕk′spə-rā′shən /

1. See exhalation

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonexpiration
  noun
• preexpiration
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• expirations
  plural

Etymology

Origin of expiration

1375–1425; late Middle English expiracioun < Latin expīrātiōn- (stem of expīrātiō ), equivalent to expīrāt ( us ) (past participle of ex ( s ) pīrāre to expire ) + -iōn- -ion

Compare meaning

How does expiration compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• expiry vs. expiration

Explanation

Expiration is what happens when a lease or contract — or a period of time — has ended. The expiration of your library card means you need to sign up for a new one. You might notice that your container of yogurt is marked with a date — it's the expiration date, or the day the product is no longer fresh enough to be sold or eaten. Other things with expiration dates include magazine subscriptions, rental agreements, and drivers' licenses. All of these are a sort of contract that eventually ends, or expires. When you breathe out, that's technically also expiration, from the Latin expirare, "breathe out," or "breathe one's last breath."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

expiration expirations

For the stocks in this table, that would mean buying the straddles expiring on Aug. 2, or the next nearest date if that expiration date not exist for a particular stock.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 23, 2026

The lockup expiration on Aug. 6 will add up to 911.5 million shares to the market, roughly doubling the amount that are freed to trade.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026

"Leeds United can confirm Karl Darlow has left the club upon the expiration of his contract to pursue an opportunity elsewhere," Leeds said in a statement.

From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026

It marks the first major lawsuit against the state’s signature program since legislators agreed last year to extend its life beyond the original 2030 expiration date to 2045.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 7, 2026

What if Haazim Farooqi’s brain boosters had an expiration date?

From "The Smartest Kid in the Universe" by Chris Grabenstein

For example, an options trader might think it’s a good idea to buy October expirations now to capture this rise in volatility.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 23, 2026

Because we are creating synthetic stock—trader jargon for using options to mimic actual shares—let’s use expirations of six months and longer to simulate equity ownership.

From Barron's ● Jun. 24, 2026

Instead of a typical 180-day lockup expiration for early investors, there are rolling lockup expirations with some tied to stock performance.

From Barron's ● Jun. 8, 2026

Those lockup expirations feed into Papic’s concern about demand and supply issues for 2027.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 3, 2026

As I listened breathlessly other sounds of the same character but in different tones joined in, human voices monotonously intoning in long drawn-out expirations the single word "bl-o-o-o-o-w."

From The Cruise of the Cachalot Round the World After Sperm Whales by Bullen, Frank T.

Related Words

• expiry
• termination