emoji

noun emo·ji \ ē-ˈmō-jē \

Definition of emoji

plural emoji or emojis

:any of various small images, symbols, or icons used in text fields in electronic communication (as in text messages, e-mail, and social media) to express the emotional attitude of the writer, convey information succinctly, communicate a message playfully without using words, etc.

The function of emoji, as [emoji developer Shigetaka] Kurita describes it—adding subtle emotional emphasis to a sentence in text—isn't too different from that of emoticons, the frowny and smiley faces that people have been making out of punctuation since the mid-1990s.
—Britt Peterson

— compare emoticon

Recent Examples of emoji from the Web

But the NFL was all over it, Tweeting out an image that tried to match up every team with its own emoji.

— scott patsko, cleveland.com, "NFL celebrates World Emoji Day by giving the Browns an orange dot," 18 July 2017
As much competition as there currently seems to be, the future that both Crone and Baker foresee for digital payments leaves plenty of room for emoji, but on the whole is more ☮️ than ⚔.

— joe pinsker, The Atlantic, "Venmo's Pointless-Seeming Social Feed Might Be Its Greatest Strength," 18 July 2017
Text the cherry blossom emoji , for instance, and you will be treated to a 2007 photograph by the Japanese artist HiroyoKaneko, which shows a group of people lounging under a cherry blossom tree.

— brigit katz, Smithsonian, "Text an Emoji and the SFMOMA Will Respond with a Picture of Art," 17 July 2017
There have been signs, scriptures and emojis along with messages and symbols of hope.

— amanda walker, AL.com, "Hiding painted rocks helps communities find joy," 17 July 2017
Ping-Pong For Hobbyists Finally a reason to bust out the Ping-Pong paddle emoji.

— marielle wakim, Los Angeles Magazine, "Best of LA: 92 of Our Favorite Things to Eat, Do, and Buy Right Now," 14 July 2017
A round of applause emoji for Clarkson and her body positivity.

— devon ivie, Allure, "Kelly Clarkson Shuts Down Twitter Troll Who Called Her Fat," 5 July 2017
That led to Heat center Hassan Whiteside, who was among Heat players to meet Saturday with Hayward to offer his own emoji counter on Twitter.

— ira winderman, Sun-Sentinel.com, "Emojis gone wild: Whiteside steps up with own Hayward pitch," 2 July 2017
In fact, over on Instagram, Lea made sure to let everyone know that she's been living her best peach emoji life in Hawaii.

— peggy truong, Cosmopolitan, "Lea Michele Is Straight Fire in This Insanely Sexy One-Piece Swimsuit," 28 June 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'emoji.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.