MIAs

Unaccounted-for personnel, briefly

MIAs is the plural of MIA, the military acronym for "missing in action"—service members unaccounted for after combat whose fate remains unknown.

The term extends to anyone conspicuously absent: Half the team are MIAs today.

As with other military acronyms, it sometimes appears lowercase: We had three mias from the meeting.

military

soldiers

Military personnel who fight

casualtiesThose killed or wounded
POWsCaptured military personnel
unaccountedNot included or explained

Vietnam · Korea · recovery · remains · repatriation · dog tags · families · search · identification · memorial

absence

absent

Not in attendance

unaccountedNot included or explained
no-showsThose who fail appointments
disappearedCeased to exist visibly

AWOL · truant · skipped · vanished · unreachable · ghosted · dropped off · incommunicado · unavailable · lost contact

music

M.I.A.

Absent, location unknown

Sri LankanIsland nation citizen
rapperHip-hop vocal artist
MayaAncient Mesoamerican people

British · Tamil · political · activist · immigration · Born Free · XXXO · refugee · provocative · MTV

Categories

Veteransveteran, vets, war veteran, war veterans, VA
Vietnam WarVietnam War, Vietnam, Tet Offensive, My Lai Massacre, Viet Cong
Cold War EraSoviet Union, Berlin Wall, Cuban Missile Crisis, Iron Curtain, Warsaw Pact
Korean WarKorean War, 38th parallel, DMZ, demilitarized zone, armistice line

Opposites

military casualty status

MIAsPOWs

Captured military personnel

accounted for · repatriated · survivors · killed in action · recovered

presence/accountability

MIAsaccounted for

Provided explanation or justification

located · found · on duty · reporting for duty · stationed

survival status

Those still alive after

homecomers · returnees

Phrases

Mia Farrow
mamma miaItalian expression of surprise
mama miaItalian expression of surprise
Mia Hamm
Mia Wallace

Family

Familiarity: Top 500,000
Profile: Timeless · Negative · Rated PG