missing in action
Syllables: miss·ing in act·ionUK/ˈmɪsɪŋ ɪn ˈækʃən/
missing in action adjective: the designation for a member of an organization (usually military) with whom contact is lost and whose whereabouts are not known, but whose death is not confirmed.
Adjective
missing in action (not comparable, abbreviation MIA)
- The designation for a member of an organization (usually military) with whom contact is lost and whose whereabouts are not known, but whose death is not confirmed.
- Missing in action are those who have been dropped from the muster-roll as missing in action, and have subsequently joined again. [...] If the missing in action, or desertion, and the return to the company, both occur in the quarter, it is not necessary to note them; in other words, it is not...1864, August V[alentine] Kautz, “Return of Men Joined”, in The Company Clerk: […], Philadelphia, Pa.: J. B. Lippincott & Co., →OCLC, paragraph 135, page 77
- Private Louis R. Ziegra of this place [Deep River, Connecticut], formerly a bookkeeper at the Pratt-Reid Player Action Co., who is announced in dispatches from the War Department as missing in action is a German prisoner of war.1918 July 20, “In the Hands of the Huns”, in John C[hristian] Freund, editor, The Music Trades, volume LVI, number 3, New York, N.Y.: The Music Trades Co., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 25, columns 1–2
- Not present when one is expected to be.
- He says that when pressed about why the money was missing in action, NAB [National Australia Bank] failed to provide an explanation and threatened to foreclose on the customer.2007 December 13, Katie Cincotta, “Is internet banking safe?”, in The Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney, N.S.W.: Nine Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 18 Sep 2019
- Finding her toothbrush last night had been the extent of her unpacking and her slippers were still missing in action.2017, Tracy Rees, The Hourglass
missing in action meaning in Arabic, Malay and Thai
missing in action in Arabic
- designation for a member of an organization with whom contact is lost but whose death is not confirmed
- فُقِدَ فِي الْمَعْرَكَة fuqida fī l-maʕraka
missing in action in Malay
- designation for a member of an organization with whom contact is lost but whose death is not confirmed
- hilang dalam pertempuran
missing in action in Thai
- designation for a member of an organization with whom contact is lost but whose death is not confirmed
- สูญหายในการปฏิบัติหน้าที่
Examples of missing in action in a sentence
- Air Force, has been missing in action since April 24, 1968.1971 March 23, Joan Vinson (witness), “Statement of Joan Vinson, National Coordinator, National League of Families of American Prisoners...
- He was never seen again and is now officially regarded by the Defence Forces as: ‘Missing in Action, Presumed Dead.’2010, Ralph Riegel, John O’Mahony, chapter 12, in Missing in Action: The 50 Year Search for Ireland’s Missing Soldier, Cork, Munster...
- President Donald Trump called Attorney General Jeff Sessions "scared stiff and Missing in Action" on Saturday in his latest broadside on Twitter against the nation's top law enforcement officer.2018 August 12, Clare Foran, “Trump Calls Attorney General Jeff Sessions ‘Scared Stiff and Missing in Action’”, in CNN, archived from the...
- A Canadian pledge of 200 soldiers for peacekeeping missions is missing in action more than 18 months after it was first promised to the United Nations by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.2019 July 9, The Canadian Press, “Missing in Action: Promised 200-strong Force yet to be Registered with UN”, in CityNews, Citytv, Toronto...
Forms of missing in action
| abbreviation | MIA |
|---|
Questions about missing in action
- What does missing in action mean?
- Missing in action means the designation for a member of an organization (usually military) with whom contact is lost and whose whereabouts are not known, but whose death is not confirmed.
- What is missing in action in Arabic?
- Missing in action in Arabic is فُقِدَ فِي الْمَعْرَكَة (fuqida fī l-maʕraka). See Missing in action meaning in Arabic.
- How do you use missing in action in a sentence?
- Air Force, has been missing in action since April 24, 1968.
- What part of speech is missing in action?
- Missing in action is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce missing in action?
- Missing in action is pronounced /ˈmɪsɪŋ ɪn ˈækʃən/ (UK).
Words near missing in action in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: missing in action (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-missing in action.ogg.
Cite this entry: “missing in action.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/missing_in_action. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.