Idiom idiom
swaddling clothes
Meaning
An early period in development, infancy, the beginnings of something; inception.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“The new project is still in its swaddling clothes.”
“The startup is still in its swaddling clothes, so they are not ready to hire many employees yet.”
“Although the technology remains in its swaddling clothes, experts believe it will eventually change how we interact with the world.”
Anchors to
Last updated August 10, 2026