need more time in the oven

verb

Of a project or an idea, to be insufficiently polished or thought out; requiring more time to attain acceptable quality.

“Their draft of the new business case doesn't yet say enough about the market research they've done — it clearly needs more time in the oven.”

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Meanings

verbneed more time in the oven (third-person singular simple present needs more time in the oven, present participle needing more time in the oven, simple past and past participle needed more time in the oven)

present singular third person needs more time in the oven · participle present needing more time in the oven · participle past needed more time in the oven · past needed more time in the oven

  1. figurativelyOf a project or an idea, to be insufficiently polished or thought out; requiring more time to attain acceptable quality.

    Their draft of the new business case doesn't yet say enough about the market research they've done — it clearly needs more time in the oven.

    1 more example

    Though Jevons's theory was more than half-baked, it needed more time in the oven, since he forgot to calculate that poor harvests in Asia would hit England only after a time lag.

    1996, Todd G. Buchholz, From Here to Economy, Penguin Publishing Group, →ISBN
Cite this entry
APA

need more time in the oven. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/need%20more%20time%20in%20the%20oven

MLA

“need more time in the oven.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/need%20more%20time%20in%20the%20oven. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “need more time in the oven,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/need%20more%20time%20in%20the%20oven.

Source: need more time in the oven on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.