Etymologically
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inbound

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Pronunciation

  • US: /ˈɪnbaʊnd/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English in (“inward”) + bound (“heading for a place”),[2][3][4][5][6][7] like its opposite outbound.[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homeward bound, of ships: 1857.[3] The OED's first record, of 1894 in the magazine Outing, has the general sense "bound inward or homeward",[2][8] and Merriam-Webster also dates the word to 1894.[5][9]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline notes that the word was first used of ships.[3] It was later applied to traffic, passengers and goods heading into a place, and to things relating to such traffic, as in an inbound station.[5][9] In basketball, the verb means to put the ball back into play from out of bounds.[10][1]

Timeline

  • 1857 – homeward bound, of ships.[3]
  • 1894 – bound inward or homeward, in general.[2][5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Travelling inward, toward a place or toward home; incoming: The inbound bus was twenty minutes late.[11][5][10][9][2]
  2. Relating to incoming traffic.[5]

Verb

  1. (basketball) To put the ball into play by passing it from out of bounds to a teammate.[10][1]

Word family

  • inbounds

Usage notes

Merriam-Webster contrasts it with outbound.[5] The OED also records a separate adjective of the same spelling (1953), used of a leaf or gathering in a manuscript or book that is bound within it, from inbind,[2] and an obsolete verb (1600–1652), to enclose as a boundary, formed with the prefix in-.[2][8]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
  7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  8. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  10. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  11. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins