expired

adjective

ex·​pired ik-ˈspī(-ə)rd 

ek-

1

formal : dead, deceased

—often used as a euphemistic or humorous alternative to dead

A shovel, bucket, trash bags, and gloves are also useful items for cleaning up expired wildlife.

—Jeffrey Price and Jeffrey Forrest

… I've exercised my maternal instincts on him, doing a far better job of keeping him alive than all those expired plants now in the great compost pile in the sky.

—Kerry Quinn

There, firmly lodged within the pipe and obstructing the flow of water, was a catfish. The expired creature was removed, brought on board, and mounted in the main passenger cabin for all to see.

—John Laurence Busch

2

: no longer valid : having exceeded its period of validity

expired licenses

an expired contract

… Mr. Adams uses homemade software to download online books with expired copyrights …

—Michael M. Phillips

3

: having passed its expiration date (see expiration date sense 2)

expired milk

expired drugs

… networks that now take us into the homes of people who treasure their expired tuna cans more than they do their children …

—Carina Chocano

4

: emitted as or in a person's breath : breathed out

… the person exhales into a container at regular intervals and technicians measure the amount of hydrogen in the expired air.

—Colleen Sauber

Synonyms

• bygone
• bypast
• dead
• defunct
• departed
• done
• extinct
• gone
• nonextant
• vanished

Examples of expired in a Sentence

a wildlife organization dedicated to ensuring that the giant panda not be added to the list of expired species

Recent Examples on the Web

The Band filed a lawsuit against Enbridge in 2019, asking the company to remove the Line 5 pipeline, which has been operating on 12 miles of its land with an expired easement. —Caitlin Looby, Journal Sentinel, 11 July 2024

In December 2023, police reported a suspect fleeing a stop on an expired license plate crashed while driving through a red light, according to Fox 2 Detroit (WJBK-TV). —Darcie Moran, Detroit Free Press, 2 July 2024

That could lead to better deals for shoppers and potentially prevent a store from throwing out an expired item. —Mack Degeurin, Popular Science, 20 June 2024

An expired statute of limitations means Combs cannot be prosecuted for the attack, the Los Angeles district attorney’s office said after the video’s release. —Theresa Braine, New York Daily News, 14 June 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1631, in the meaning defined at sense 1