MIA

¹ American  

plural

MIA's, MIAs

1. missing in action.

2. a soldier declared missing in action.

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M.I.A. ² American  

abbreviation

1. Master of International Affairs.

2. Military. missing in action.

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MIA British  

abbreviation

1. military missing in action: officially unaccounted for following combat

2. (in Australia) Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area

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Example Sentences

As a result, history and original meaning were MIA in a dispute when they should have been front and center.

From Slate • Dec. 11, 2025

There are a few characters out of the Scott drama who are MIA in real time, though we see and hear from them in archival video—Keith Olbermann, for instance, who appeared with Scott on “SportsNight.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 9, 2025

When they went out, the singer and her siblings would blast out hits by Coldplay, MIA, Lily Allen and Daughter.

From BBC • Apr. 5, 2025

Feinstein was MIA from the Senate for months this year with a case of shingles; it took the New York Times to report she’d also had encephalitis.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 28, 2023

And then, in one last, utterly futile gesture, Carter ruled that the MIA car pool was illegal and must stop operating.

From "Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice" by Phillip Hoose