MPa
Abbreviation with 5 meanings
| Stands for | Megapascal |
|---|---|
| Meanings | 5 |
| Categories | Units & Measurements, Education & Academia, Arts & Entertainment, Science & Engineering, Technology & Computing |
| Also written | MPA |
MPa has five meanings. The most common are Megapascal (engineering unit) and Master of Public Administration (degree); it can also stand for Motion Picture Association, Marine protected area and Multi-page application.
Meanings of MPa at a glance
| # | MPa stands for | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Megapascal | Units & Measurements › Engineering Unit |
| 2 | Master of Public Administration | Education & Academia › Degree |
| 3 | Motion Picture Association | Arts & Entertainment › Film, Television and Theater |
| 4 | Marine protected area | Science & Engineering › Environmental |
| 5 | Multi-page application | Technology & Computing › Internet & Web |
1. Megapascal
Units & Measurements · Engineering Unit Abbreviations
Material strength, concrete grades, hydraulic systems and high-pressure gas use megapascals, millions of pascals. Structural concrete commonly has a compressive strength of 25 to 40 MPa, and structural steel yields at about 250 to 350 MPa.
Example: Specify 32 MPa concrete for the footings and 40 MPa for the suspended slabs.
One MPa equals one newton per square millimeter (N/mm²), so engineering codes use the two interchangeably. It is about 145 psi, making 30 MPa concrete roughly a 4,350 psi mix. Hydrogen fuel-cell cars store fuel at 70 MPa (700 bar).
2. Master of Public Administration (MPA)
Education & Academia · Degree Abbreviations
Professional graduate degree for careers managing government agencies and nonprofits, covering public finance, budgeting, policy analysis, ethics and management. Programs usually take two years and are accredited by NASPAA, the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration.
Example: She left the city budget office to complete an MPA at Syracuse University's Maxwell School.
Written M.P.A. The MPA focuses more on managing and implementing programs, while the MPP emphasizes quantitative policy analysis, though the curricula overlap heavily. Harvard Kennedy School offers a one-year mid-career MPA and a two-year MPA for students with some experience.
3. Motion Picture Association (MPA)
Arts & Entertainment · Film, Television and Theater Abbreviations · also used in organizations
Trade association of major US film and streaming studios, which lobbies for the industry and runs the voluntary film rating system (G, PG, PG-13, R and NC-17) through its Classification and Rating Administration.
Example: The film was rated PG-13 by the MPA for intense action violence.
Founded in 1922 as the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America under Will Hays, whose name became attached to the Production Code. It took the name Motion Picture Association of America in 1945 and shortened it to MPA in 2019. Netflix became the first streaming company to join, in 2019.
4. Marine protected area (MPA)
Science & Engineering · Environmental Abbreviations
Defined region of ocean or coast where human activities such as fishing, mining or drilling are restricted to conserve marine life and habitats. Protection ranges from multiple-use areas to fully protected no-take reserves.
Example: Fish biomass inside the no-take MPA was several times higher than in nearby fished waters.
The Kunming-Montreal biodiversity framework, adopted in 2022, set a goal of protecting 30% of land and ocean by 2030, often called 30x30. Papahānaumokuākea in Hawaii covers about 1.5 million square kilometers, among the largest MPAs. The High Seas Treaty, adopted in 2023, provides a legal route for creating MPAs in international waters.
5. Multi-page application (MPA)
Technology & Computing · Internet & Web Abbreviations
A traditional website or web app in which each navigation loads a new HTML document from the server. Most content sites and online stores, and frameworks such as Ruby on Rails, Django and WordPress, follow this model.
Example: We kept the marketing site as an MPA for SEO and built only the dashboard as an SPA.
The term became common only as a contrast to single-page applications. MPAs are simpler to cache and index, and newer browser features such as cross-document view transitions let them offer smooth, app-like page changes. Frameworks such as Astro advocate a multi-page approach by default. Not to be confused with MPa, the megapascal unit of pressure.
Related abbreviations
More engineering unit abbreviations
- MHz – Megahertz
- MJ – Megajoule
- MMBtu – Million British thermal units
- mmHg – Millimeter of mercury
- MPG – Miles per gallon
- MPGe – Miles per gallon equivalent
- mph – Miles per hour
- mV – Millivolt
See all 103 engineering unit abbreviations →