Expired VS Dead/Deceased Person (2025)

Hi everyone,

I am from India and the use of the word expired denoting a dead person is very common here.

Is it an appropriate euphemism?

It might be used in India, I cannot say, but I would not use it in the UK. For one reason it would make most of us think of Monty Python's Dead Parrot sketch (you can find this on youtube!)

There are lots of euphemisms for being dead, so any good thesaurus should show you a range of options.

Deceased is more common. Expired would be understood (I think) but it's sufficiently unusual that people might be momentarily confused by it.

My own preference is to just say dead because I don't find euphemisms for death at all comforting, but I realize not everyone agrees with me on that, so in deference to the different sensibilities of others, I often used deceased.

aasheq said:

Here in England "expired" sounds ludicrous, and potentially offensive.

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Well, that's interesting... as WyomingSue mentioned in post #4, in AmE it is perfectly appropriate terminology, at least in the medical field.

bicontinental said:

Well, that's interesting... as WyomingSue mentioned in post #4, in AmE it is perfectly appropriate terminology, at least in the medical field.

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But

in the medical field, not in regular conversation.

JustKate said:

...Expired would be understood (I think) but it's sufficiently unusual that people might be momentarily confused by it.
...

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Yes indeed, It happened to me. I had an Indian client who came in with his father's passport, telling me he had expired and asking what he should do.

I knew there was some language problem, but of course I imagined that he meant it had expired. I hope he didn't think I was being terribly rude when I asked if his father wanted to renew it...

Miss Julie said:

But

only

in the medical field, not in regular conversation.

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Yes, exactly. In ordinary conversation the word would sound either pompous or clinical. There are many examples of medical word usages that aren't customary in regular conversation, and this is one of them.

suzi br said:

It might be used in India, I cannot say, but I would not use it in the UK. For one reason it would make most of us think of Monty Python's Dead Parrot sketch (you can find this on youtube!)

There are lots of euphemisms for being dead, so any good thesaurus should show you a range of options.

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I do know a few euphemisms for being dead but still wanted to make sure if the word expired used by us Indians is correct or not.

I have lately observed that some of the terms used in colloquial Indian English are considered completely incorrect or markedly deviant by native speakers.

I am just making an honest effort to sound as "unIndian" as possible

Thank you everyone!

JustKate said:

Yes, exactly. In ordinary conversation the word would sound either pompous or clinical. There are many examples of medical word usages that aren't customary in regular conversation, and this is one of them.

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Definitely. I certainly would NEVER say "My grandmother expired in 1993."

I had an Indian client who came in with his father's passport, telling me he had expired and asking what he should do.

I knew there was some language problem, but of course I imagined that he meant it had expired. I hope he didn't think I was being terribly rude when I asked if his father wanted to renew it...

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Exactly. Outside of the clinical usage, when I hear "expired" I think of a license, a magazine subscription . . .

Parla said:

Exactly. Outside of the clinical usage, when I hear "expired" I think of a license, a magazine subscription . . .

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Food...

Food...

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Oh, right! Or the effectiveness of medications, which are sometimes labeled with expiration dates. (In BE, as I discovered when I subscribed to a British magazine, the noun is expiry.)

aasim84 said:

Hi everyone,
I am from India and the use of the word expired denoting a dead person is very common here.

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Your thread title indicates you are talking about "expired" as an adjective while your text appears to be asking whether it's appropriate to be used as a noun, e.g. "The expired was taken to a funeral home."

Could you please verify?

(We do, of course, use "expire" as a verb, but that doesn't seem to be what you are asking.)

I agree with sdg: I think it would be useful to see some context and an example sentence, aasim84.

(Just to say - we have realised several times in past threads that Indian English uses expressions that AmE and BrE doesn't. But that doesn't make those expressions 'incorrect'.)