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.
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.
given to smiling; cheerful
depicting a smile
a smiley badge
1985–90
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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
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
Yet it’s also made her a darling among tastemakers who might not have caught her in the smiley 2021 Netflix teen comedy “He’s All That.”
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 18, 2025
So the morning smiley faces we send each other are important.
From "Patina" by Jason Reynolds
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
