expire
/ɪkˈspaɪə(ɹ)/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.54 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To exhale; to breathe out.
verb
To give forth insensibly or gently, as a fluid or vapour; to emit in minute particles.
Transitive verb
Example Sentences
- "The patient expired in hospital."
- "And then, his head ſinking on his pillow, he expired; at about half an hour after ten."
- "Hippolita, ſcarce more alive than her daughter, was regardleſs of every thing but her: but when the tender Iſabella’s care would have likewiſe removed her, while the ſurgeons examined Matilda’s wound, ſhe cried, remove me! never! never! I lived but in her, and will expire with her."
- "Soon the patient had no longer sufficient strength to sit up; the trunk of the body was inclined to the right side, the head high and thrown backward, the mouth wide open: she seemed to stifle rather than respire: lastly, speech and respiration failed her; she uttered, however, in a feeble voice, some incoherent words, said she felt she was dying, and, accordingly, expired the sixth day after entrance."
- "People bled to death like gentlemen in an operating room or expired without comment in an oxygen tent."
- "My library card will expire next week."
Etymology
From Middle English expire, from Middle French expirer, from Latin expīrō, exspīrō, from ex- (“out”) + spīrō (“breathe, be alive”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Usage
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
Frequently Paired Words
Synonyms
assume room temperature
auger in
be called home
be gathered to one's fathers
be like the the One
be no more
be with Jesus
be with the Lord
bite the big one
bite the biscuit
bite the dust
buy the farm