A baseball game has nine innings.
Idiom: early innings
Definition
In the early stages. The phrase comes from the early part of a baseball game. A game has nine innings.
Examples
→ School started only two weeks ago. It’s still early innings, so don’t get too worried.
→ Scientists are researching the problem, but their research is still in the early innings.
This idiom comes from baseball. Baseball games are not timed like many other team sports. Instead, one game has nine innings. In an inning, both teams have a time to bat. During the inning, teach team bats until they have three outs.
The early innings are the early part of a game. The phrase has long been used figuratively outside of baseball to mean "the early part of something."
Related Idioms
• early stages (synonym)
Level
The idiom early innings is advanced-level vocabulary, but it is common in business English and it pops up in news, entertainment, and in everyday conversation.
Idioms: Idioms are phrases whose meaning is not clear from the words in them. Idioms come from many sources. This is a sports idiom from baseball, a phrase that is now used figuratively outside of baseball. It is an example of the many popular, colorful idioms that come from the sport. Check out the book English for Baseball for more vocabulary from the sport. Or for general sports idioms, check out English Idioms 2: Sports—Hit a Home Run.
Learn more idioms at the Targets in English Lessons page. You can also find Targets in English on Twitter and the web.
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