- present participle of miss.
missing
Americanadjective
-
absent, not found, or lost.
a missing person.
-
lacking.
Something is missing in this relationship.
idioms
adjective
-
not present; absent or lost
-
not able to be traced and not known to be dead
nine men were missing after the attack
-
to become lost or disappear
Etymology
Origin of missing
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
At the end of September, in fact, a powerful nor’easter toppled a huge tree on my property, thankfully missing my house.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
Hominin fossils are so rare that generally the differences between them are huge, and researchers are left to make educated guesses regarding what existed in the missing parts of the fossil record.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 8, 2026
But there was a page missing towards the end.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
“I credit our research group and front office for really looking through this and saying, ‘Are we missing anything?’”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
Half of the postmark—the half we need to locate Mom—is missing.
From "South of Somewhere" by Kalena Miller
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
