Meaning & use
expiry day
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Meanings
nouncountable
The day on which something stops being valid or usable, especially a contract, card, or official document.
Grammar: Countable: you can say 'an expiry day' or 'the expiry day'. Often used with 'on' or 'by': on expiry day, by expiry day.
Patterns
- on expiry day
- by expiry day
- the expiry day of something
Your passport must be renewed before its expiry day.
The insurance policy covers you until the expiry day printed on the certificate.
Traders watched the options market closely as expiry day approached.
nouncountablefinancebusiness
In finance, the final day on which an options or futures contract can be exercised or settled.
Grammar: Countable and often used without 'the' in financial news: 'expiry day is Friday'.
Patterns
- options expiry day
- contract expiry day
- expiry day falls on something
Prices often move sharply on options expiry day.
The contract's expiry day falls on the third Friday of the month.
Investors closed their positions ahead of expiry day.
Word forms
| plural | expiry days |
|---|
Common combinations
- on expiry day
- The coupon can be used on expiry day only.
- before the expiry day
- Please renew your membership before the expiry day.
- the expiry day of a contract
- The expiry day of the contract is clearly stated in section 4.
- options expiry day
- Trading volume usually rises on options expiry day.
- extend the expiry day
- The airline agreed to extend the expiry day of the voucher.
Synonyms and how they differ
Word family
- expire verb
- To come to the end of a valid period.
- expiry noun
- The end of a valid period; often used before another noun, as in 'expiry date'.
- expiration noun
- The American English noun for the ending of a valid period.
Commonly confused: expiry day or expiration day?
expiry day vs expiration day
The same meaning, but 'expiration' is the usual American form and 'expiry' the usual British form.
Practice
Choose the sentence that uses 'expiry day' correctly.
Choose one answer.
'Expiry day' means the day something stops being valid, so a passport expiry day works. Option An is wrong because milk has an expiry date, not usually an 'expiry day' in everyday British use, and the phrasing is unnatural. Option C is wrong because a project ending is not an 'expiry day'. Option D is wrong because a movie does not have an expiry day.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “expiry day”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.