inning

American  

[in-ing] / ˈɪn ɪŋ /

noun

innings plural

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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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• innings
  plural

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

Reliever Alex Vesia threw a scoreless ninth inning for his fifth consecutive scoreless outing to cap a night the Dodgers probably would like to forget.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 11, 2026

Given a three-run lead in the first inning, brought to the Dodgers by a wild pitch and Kyle Tucker’s two-run, line-drive single to left field, Sasaki seemed set up for success.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 9, 2026

The Dodgers’ problems were compounded by Alex Call wasting the team’s two challenges in his at-bat in the first inning when the team had already taken the lead.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 9, 2026

Shortstop Miguel Rojas, who botched a grounder to his left earlier in the inning that enabled a run to score, was late breaking to cover third, leaving the bag wide open.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 8, 2026

Webb doesn’t like it when we taunt the other team, and the only reason he’s letting us is that the Titans have been taunting us since the first inning of the opener.

From "A High Five for Glenn Burke" by Phil Bildner

Related Words

• round
• shot
• stint
• stretch