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emoticon

noun

Simple meaning

A graphical representation of a particular emotion of the writer, used usually in SMS, email, or other electronic communication.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

uhmohtuhkahn

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

əˈmoʊtəkɑn

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. A graphical representation of a particular emotion of the writer, used especially in SMS, email, or other electronic communication.

  2. An image or graphic icon used to represent such emotions; an emoji.

  3. A graphic made up of text characters to represent such emotion; a smiley.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
C2 · Proficient (estimated)
Frequency
Rare

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

This meaning: A graphical representation of a particular emotion of the writer, used especially in SMS, email, or other electronic communication.

Used this way, emoticon is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use emoticon

  • “:-( and:-) are emoticons.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

face emoticonsee emoticonemoticon usesmiley emoticon

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.