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

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.

---

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

Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

• smileys
  plural

Etymology

Origin of smiley

1985–90

Example Sentences

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

The smiley, huggy Vrabel is the sports dad we all wanted, and North Carolinian Maye actually has some of that early-Brady stardust.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 8, 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

She was "really smiley and happy," Grace said, thanking everyone for their support.

From BBC • Feb. 5, 2026

His Bambi eyes look smiley but also a little . . . something else ... maybe confused?

From "Mockingbird" by Kathryn Erskine