inning
noun
Simple meaning
One of nine divisions of play during which each team has a turn at bat.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
iningSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈɪnɪŋ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
baseball
One of nine divisions of play during which each team has a turn at bat
baseballsoftball
A similar period of play.
billiards
A player (or team)'s turn at the table to make shots until ended by a miss or a foul.
baseball
A period of play in which members of a visiting baseball team attempt to hit a baseball pitched by the opposing home team until three players are called out, followed by a similar attempt by members of the home baseball team against the visiting team's pitching. There are nine or more innings in a regulation baseball game.
A chance or opportunity to perform some deed or act.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: One of nine divisions of play during which each team has a turn at bat
Used this way, inning is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This is a sporting use: familiar to anyone who follows the game, and puzzling to anyone who does not.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Where it naturally appears
- Sports
- News/reporting
- Everyday conversation
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use inning
- “The home team scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning.”noun
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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: one of nine divisions of play during which each team has a turn at bat
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.