inning
Americannoun
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innings
plural
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Baseball. a division of a game during which each team has an opportunity to score until three outs have been made against it.
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a similar opportunity to score in certain other games, as horseshoes.
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an opportunity for activity; a turn.
Now the opposition will have its inning.
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(used with a singular verb) innings,
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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.
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land reclaimed, especially from the sea.
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the act of reclaiming marshy or flooded land.
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enclosure, as of wasteland.
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the gathering in of crops.
noun
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baseball a division of the game consisting of a turn at bat and a turn in the field for each side
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archaic the reclamation of land from the sea
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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!"
Vocabulary lists containing inning
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The Dodgers lost Game 2 after Snell exited with two outs in the fourth inning.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 10, 2026
Dodgers left fielder Teoscar Hernández had a scary moment in the sixth inning.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026
Then Scott had the inning of his Dodgers career in the eighth — sitting down the Braves’ 3-4-5 hitters with a nasty array of sliders and fastballs.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026
He gave up five runs in one inning, and he has given up five runs in the other 44⅔ innings.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
By the fifth inning, she had finally restored the dining room to its original condition.
From "In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson" by Bette Bao Lord
He limited the Braves to two hits over six innings.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 10, 2026
I think we’re probably still in the early to mid innings in terms of the overall premium supply versus demand.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
Labuschagne, who actually batted well for 37 before falling lbw to Wiaan Mulder to the last ball before lunch, has now gone 44 Test innings without a Test century.
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026
The Dodgers recorded only three hits against Mahle in 6 ⅓ innings.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 8, 2026
Three fights and four innings later, I conceded that the experiment wasn’t working out.
From "The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates" by Wes Moore
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
