shelf life

American

noun

the term or period during which a stored commodity remains effective, useful, or suitable for consumption.

Many medicines have a very short shelf life.

shelf life British

noun

the length of time a packaged food, chemical, etc, will last without deteriorating

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of shelf life

First recorded in 1925–30

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:

shelf life

Bot-detection technology tends to have a short shelf life, says Cloudflare’s Becker.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026

Blood has a shelf life of 35 days, so stocks need constant replenishing.

From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026

It’s bold, heavily angled and has a short shelf life?

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026

“The giants of the marketplace have processed our food to death to extend shelf life and expand distribution,” he said in a 2006 interview.

From Salon ● Jun. 22, 2026

It hadn’t occurred to me that I could suddenly blink into nothingness like a crashed computer with not even two years used up on my shelf life.

From "The Adoration of Jenna Fox" by Mary E. Pearson

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023