Emoticon
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A graphical representation of a particular emotion of the writer, used especially in SMS, email, or other electronic communication.; A graphic made up of text characters to represent such emotion; a smiley.
"A remark intended humorously is often indicated by the letter G in parentheses, for "grin," or by a sideways happy face built from punctuation marks. Such symbols are known as emoticons."
- 2 a representation of a facial expression (as a smile or frown) created by typing a sequence of characters in sending email wordnet
- 3 A graphical representation of a particular emotion of the writer, used especially in SMS, email, or other electronic communication.; An image or graphic icon used to represent such emotions; an emoji.
"In addition to placing emoticons by clicking icons in the pop-up panel shown in Figure 4-2, you can enter the text representation in your text chat window. For example, to show the image of the emoticon with sunglasses, you enter (cool)."
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"The “smiling face with smiling eyes” is a standard in approval and appreciation. It expresses genuine happiness and warm, positive feelings. It is an emoji form of the ^^ emoticon."
Etymology
Blend of emotion + icon. Unrelated to emoji.
More for "emoticon"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.