emoticon

Everyday

1. A small face made from keyboard symbols, like :-) or :(, used in messages to show a feeling. tree →
2. (informal) An emoji: a little picture showing a face or thing. tree →

In the lessons

In computing and online safety lessons, emoticons add feeling to messages; they help show if someone is joking, but can be misunderstood; phrases: «add an emoticon», «a smiley emoticon».

Examples

• She ended her message with a smiley emoticon :-). tree →
• Emoticons were invented before emojis. tree →
• Turn your head sideways to see the emoticon's face. tree →
• A wink emoticon ;-) shows that you are joking. tree →
• Don't use too many emoticons in a formal email. tree →
• The emoticon :( shows that you are sad. tree →

Note

Countable. Made from «emotion» + «icon». Strictly, emoticons are made of keyboard characters; emojis are small pictures. The first known emoticon :-) was suggested in 1982.