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.
When her mentally ill mother goes missing, yet again, Lila must return to the hometown she loathed to search for her, but this time she must also deal with her estranged father, John “Dix” Dixon.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026
"It was like I had found the missing piece to a puzzle that I've been trying to solve for years," Lizzy says.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
In Japan’s case, the missing chapter is debt.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026
Japan is haunted by the memory of a massive 9.0-magnitude undersea quake in 2011, which triggered a tsunami that killed or left missing around 18,500 people and wrecked the Fukushima nuclear plant.
From Barron's ● Jul. 28, 2026
Still, the busted lock and the window lights and the missing map had Tarbox written all over them.
From "The Teacher’s Funeral" by Richard Peck
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.
