Jump to:

• smiley
  smiley

  noun

  a digital icon, a sequence of keyboard symbols, or a handwritten or printed equivalent, that serves to represent a facial expression, as :‐) for a smiling face or ;‐) for a winking face.
• Smiley
  Smiley

  noun

  Jane, born 1949, U.S. novelist.

smiley

¹ American  

[smahy-lee] / ˈsmaɪ li /

noun

plural

smileys

1. a digital icon, a sequence of keyboard symbols, or a handwritten or printed equivalent, that serves to represent a facial expression, as :‐) for a smiling face or ;‐) for a winking face.

2. Usually smile face a drawing of a face consisting of a usually yellow circle with an upturned curve for a smile and two dots for eyes.

---

adjective

1. cheerful; smiling.

Smiley ² American  

[smahy-lee] / ˈsmaɪ li /

noun

1. Jane, born 1949, U.S. novelist.

---

smiley British  

/ ˈsmaɪlɪ /

adjective

1. given to smiling; cheerful

2. depicting a smile

   a smiley badge

---

noun

1. any of a group of symbols depicting a smile, or other facial expression, used in electronic mail

Etymology

Origin of smiley

1985–90

Example Sentences

He also tweeted “Happy!” with a smiley face emoji at 4:19 a.m.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 27, 2026

The black-and-white smiley motif of the Vertigo, an events space, sat right next to her face, just happy to be there, it seemed, above a painted sign that says “Ready to Party?”

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 17, 2026

At January’s conference, robots, including Boston Dynamics’ Atlas, a 6-foot-2-inch automaton weighing in at just under 200 pounds with a digital smiley face, were the stars.

From Barron's • Feb. 6, 2026

One word expressions or smiley faces scrawled on cups with Sharpies won’t cut it, some workers said.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 26, 2026

Eighteen out of nineteen Katherines worked, but this utterly insignificant blip on the Katherinadar came out looking like a jacked-up smiley face every time.

From "An Abundance of Katherines" by John Green