emoticon

noun emo·ti·con \ i-ˈmō-ti-ˌkän \

Definition of emoticon

: a group of keyboard characters (such as :-)) that typically represents a facial expression or suggests an attitude or emotion and that is used especially in computerized communications (such as e-mail)

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Recent Examples of emoticon from the Web

Read more: One of the early digital visuals was the emoticon, a pictorial representation of a facial expression more commonly known as smiley faces.

— frank witsil, Detroit Free Press, "Smartphones ushering in a language of punctuation marks, symbols and animated pictures," 2 Nov. 2017
By the 1990s, the Japanese turned the sideways emoticon into a single character, now known as an emoji, and a bunch of symbols.

— frank witsil, Detroit Free Press, "Smartphones ushering in a language of punctuation marks, symbols and animated pictures," 2 Nov. 2017
Podcasts, film clips, emoticons, and emojis are the new pictographs of an increasingly illiterate public.

— victor davis hanson, National Review, "Status Quo Blues," 17 Oct. 2017
Overuse of fancy fonts, colors, and emoticons turned plenty of AIM profiles into crimes against graphic design.

— kyle orland, Ars Technica, "Saying goodbye to the proto-social network of AOL Instant Messenger," 8 Oct. 2017
But all are united in their waxing nostalgic about the golden days of Buddy Lists, emoticons, and pointless chats with SmarterChild.

— andrea park, Glamour, "AIM Is Shutting Down and the Internet Has a Lot of Feelings About It," 6 Oct. 2017
But all are united in their waxing nostalgic about the golden days of Buddy Lists, emoticons, and pointless chats with SmarterChild.

— andrea park, Teen Vogue, "AIM Is Shutting Down, Internet Mourns," 6 Oct. 2017
There’s a compound emoticon — Flexed biceps and Pouting face for first baseman Chase Headley.

— ronald blum, The Seattle Times, "With this Yankee’s emojis, Clown face, Squid join Babe and Boss," 16 Aug. 2017
Instead, reading a happy face in the text of a work email made people think that the sender was less competent if the same message did not contain the emoticon, the researchers found.

— julia zorthian, Time, "You Really Need to Stop Putting Smiley Faces in Work Emails," 14 Aug. 2017

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