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• 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

• smileys
  plural

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.

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adjective

1. cheerful; smiling.

Smiley ² American  

[smahy-lee] / ˈsmaɪ li /

noun

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

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smiley British  

/ ˈsmaɪlɪ /

adjective

1. given to smiling; cheerful

2. depicting a smile

   a smiley badge

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noun

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

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• smileys
  plural

Etymology

Origin of smiley

1985–90

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

smiley Smiley smileys

“Say it’s not,” her campaign manager replied with a smiley face in a text reviewed by the Journal.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026

"Everybody gives me tips on my deliveries and says hello, greeting me with smiley faces," he said.

From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026

“It’s A No For Me,” he tersely posted on social media, accompanied by a smiley face emoji wearing shades.

From Salon ● Jun. 7, 2026

Images on social media showed a person scaling the fence in a costume that included a smiley face head with sunglasses, prompting the monkeys to scatter.

From Barron's ● May 18, 2026

I wrote back, thanks, with a smiley face.

From "Leah on the Offbeat" by Becky Albertalli

Minda Smiley, a senior analyst covering social media at Emarketer, told me that while the restrictions are significant, she doesn’t expect advertisers to be spooked just yet.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026

At the end of the meeting, Smiley encouraged people to continue to push for the completion of the project and to post on social media with hashtags such as #KeepThePromiseCrenshaw, #ProcrastinationCrenshaw and #DestinationCrenshaw.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026

That's the case of Adam Smiley Poswolsky, who is now a 42-year-old public speaker and author who talks and writes about how to improve workplace cultures.

From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026

“Mr. Peters always understood that he had paid the taxes he owed,” Smiley said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 25, 2026

“Howdy, Eben. I was caught up in my practicing and didn’t hear you come in,” Mr. Smiley said.

From "The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs" by Betty G. Birney

The original Twitter thread, laden with exclamation points and smileys, aimed to provoke amazement and incredulity.

From New York Times ● Jun. 29, 2021

Unicode, which oversees what is allowed to become an emoji, currently lists 1644 emojis, including smileys, people, sport, food, animals, flags and a myriad of other categories.

From The Guardian ● Jul. 17, 2018

Second place receives a big puffy foamy top hat in psychedelic colors and printed with all sorts of groovy peace signs and flowers and smileys.

From Washington Post ● May 10, 2018

These monochromatic buttons share little more than a basic concept with the slickly designed, subtly drop-shaded smileys and figurines we know today.

From Slate ● Dec. 7, 2015

We call them smileys because when you’re done eating all the meat off it, the goat looks like it’s smiling at you from the plate.

From "Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood" by Trevor Noah