inning

American  

[in-ing] / ˈɪn ɪŋ /

noun

1. Baseball. a division of a game during which each team has an opportunity to score until three outs have been made against it.

2. a similar opportunity to score in certain other games, as horseshoes.

3. an opportunity for activity; a turn.

   Now the opposition will have its inning.

4. (used with a singular verb) innings,

   1. Cricket. a unit of play in which each team has a turn at bat, the turn of a team ending after ten players are put out or when the team declares.

   2. land reclaimed, especially from the sea.

5. the act of reclaiming marshy or flooded land.

6. enclosure, as of wasteland.

7. the gathering in of crops.

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inning British  

/ ˈɪnɪŋ /

noun

1. baseball a division of the game consisting of a turn at bat and a turn in the field for each side

2. archaic the reclamation of land from the sea

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Etymology

Origin of inning

before 900; Middle English inninge, Old English innung a getting in, equivalent to inn ( ian ) to go in + -ung -ing ¹

Explanation

Most baseball games are divided into nine innings. Each inning gives both teams a chance to be up at bat until they get three strikes. Cricket was the first sport to mark periods in innings, or "a team's turn in action during a game," emphasis on the in. While a cricket match can have four innings, the majority of baseball games have nine (though in the case of a tie, an unlimited number of extra innings can be added at the end of a game). At the start of each new inning (and half-inning), the teams switch places and the umpire yells, "Play ball!"

Example Sentences

A Sierra Canyon batter in the first inning was declared out after the umpires inspected the aluminum bat following an appeal from Notre Dame.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 22, 2026

Torrance 4, Palos Verdes 3: Tessei Magori delivered a walk-off hit in the bottom of the eighth inning.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 22, 2026

In the first inning, the Giants tagged Yoshinobu Yamamoto for three runs before he had recorded the second out.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 22, 2026

In the sixth inning of Tuesday’s game, Rushing tagged out Jung Hoo Lee at home plate to end the inning.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 22, 2026

No one else struck out the rest of the inning.

From "Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy" by Gary D. Schmidt

Related Words

• round
• shot
• stint
• stretch