MIA
Abbreviation with 3 meanings
| Stands for | Missing in action |
|---|---|
| Meanings | 3 |
| Categories | Military, Transportation & Travel, Education & Academia |
MIA has three meanings. The most common are Missing in action (military term) and Miami International Airport (airport code); it can also stand for Master of International Affairs.
Meanings of MIA at a glance
| # | MIA stands for | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Missing in action | Military › Military Term |
| 2 | Miami International Airport | Transportation & Travel › Airport Code |
| 3 | Master of International Affairs | Education & Academia › Degree |
1. Missing in action
Military · Military Term Abbreviations · also used in texting
Casualty status for service members whose whereabouts are unknown after hostile action, when it cannot be confirmed whether they were killed, captured or deserted. The status is reviewed periodically until the person is found, confirmed dead or presumed dead.
Example: The pilot was listed as MIA after his F-4 went down over Laos in 1968.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency still seeks more than 80,000 Americans missing from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Cold War and later conflicts, using excavations and DNA identification. The black POW/MIA flag, designed in 1971 for the National League of POW/MIA Families, flies at federal buildings. National POW/MIA Recognition Day falls on the third Friday of September.
2. Miami International Airport
Transportation & Travel · Airport Code Abbreviations
Leading US gateway to Latin America and the Caribbean and the country's busiest airport for international freight, located about 8 miles northwest of downtown Miami. It is American Airlines' main Latin American hub.
Example: Fresh flowers from Colombia arrive at MIA by the planeload in the weeks before Valentine's Day.
ICAO code KMIA. Pan American World Airways built its early Latin American network from Miami, and MIA inherited that role. Most US flower imports enter through the airport. The code is easily confused with the MIA abbreviation for "missing in action"; in travel contexts it always means Miami, while Miami's other airports are FLL (Fort Lauderdale) and PBI (Palm Beach).
3. Master of International Affairs
Education & Academia · Degree Abbreviations
Two-year graduate degree preparing students for diplomacy, international development, security, human rights and global business. Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs and Texas A&M's Bush School are prominent programs using this title.
Example: She joined the State Department's Foreign Service after finishing her MIA at Columbia SIPA.
Similar degrees go by different titles: the MALD at Tufts' Fletcher School, the MSFS at Georgetown and the MA at Johns Hopkins SAIS. Programs usually require proficiency in a second language and a summer internship. In military and news usage MIA means "missing in action".
Related abbreviations
More military term abbreviations
- MEDEVAC – Medical evacuation
- MEPS – Military Entrance Processing Station
- METT-TC – Mission, enemy, terrain and weather, troops and support available…
- MGRS – Military Grid Reference System
- MOLLE – Modular Lightweight Load-carrying Equipment
- MOPP – Mission-oriented protective posture
- MOS – Military occupational specialty
- MP – Military police
See all 248 military term abbreviations →
More airport code abbreviations
- MDW – Chicago Midway International Airport
- MEL – Melbourne Airport
- MEM – Memphis International Airport
- MEX – Mexico City International Airport
- MKE – Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport
- MNL – Ninoy Aquino International Airport
- MSP – Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport
- MSY – Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport