to expire
- verb
- /ɪkˈspaɪər/
- Formal
- He expired from a hemorrhage as a result of his brain tumor.
And like there's after the humans expired on planet Earth, then it was the dogs.
- And like there's after the humans expired on planet Earth, then it was the dogs.
- Anonymous, Aspire to inspire before you expire.
- I don't know if it's, I don't know if he'd expired.
- Aspire to inspire before you expire, Anonymous.
- Or does it depict the dead man God who has expired along with the two thieves on the cross at Calvary?
- And they're going to call and they're going to say, you know, we've had a patient expire or we've had a, we've got a client in need of your services.
- When you minimize who you are, you're expiring your spirit.
- And so mom expires pretty quickly.
Examples
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Be that as it may, our job is to meet the needs of the patient, until Doctor Garrett changes course or the patient expires.
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Once I removed the weapon, I realized that the suspect had expired.
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Or the doctors who allowed him to expire?
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But your little town just expired.
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Do they actually go to places where people have expired and see what has occurred?
Blog text (30) -
But then the lids of his eyes suddenly fell, and I thought he might expire on the steps.
Fiction book (1999) -
I thought some woman had come in to try on gowns and had expired right there on the carpet.
Fiction book (2001) -
In her bedroom in December 1969, Louise expired from an elegant cardiac arrest while the confounded hero looked on.
Academic text (1998) -
He had lost the power of speech, and expired with a smile of mingled gratitude and triumph.
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The patient finally expired after months of battling his illness.
Synonyms
To stop living and no longer be alive
To stop living
To die, said in a gentle or polite way
To die suddenly or violently, often in large numbers
Die suddenly, often from shock or extreme tiredness
To die, said in a casual or joking way
To die, said in casual or joking speech
To die suddenly, often in an accident or during fighting
To die or stop working after a long time of problems
To stop living and not come back
To slowly fall apart and disappear over time
To die, often said as a joke to make it seem less serious
To die in a light, not serious way
Antonyms
How Polite
Surface Forms
Morphology
expire = ex + spir
Though historically formed from ex- + spir- meaning 'breathe out', the connection to 'die' is not recoverable from modern English morphemes for most learners, so the composition is opaque.
Etymology
The word expire comes from Latin ex- 'out' and spirare 'to breathe'. That gives the simple image of someone 'breathing out' their last breath, which is why expire can mean 'to die'.