How to Use emoticon in a Sentence
emoticon
noun-
There was also a smiley face emoticon drawn on the sheet.
—Peter J Reilly, Forbes, 7 Sep. 2021
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Everyone knows that the winky emoticon means true love.
—Diana Bruk, Seventeen, 11 Aug. 2016
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These have been decisions taken in the spirit of the shrug emoticon.
—Ian Parker, The New Yorker, 22 Feb. 2021
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Musk even replied to the original tweet with his favorite emoticon, the cry-laugher.
—Matt Novak, Forbes, 5 Feb. 2023
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The first use of smiley faces, often composed of a colon, dash and close parenthesis, now called emoticons, was in the 1960s.
—Sophia Kunthara, SFChronicle.com, 6 Aug. 2019
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Two crucial ones were the < symbol and the number 3, which together made an emoticon heart <3.
—Sheera Frenkel, New York Times, 14 Feb. 2023
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Partial to a smile emoticon or two, this Dane was discovered on Facebook in 2017.
—Laird Borrelli-Persson, Vogue, 6 Feb. 2023
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There’s a compound emoticon — Flexed biceps and Pouting face for first baseman Chase Headley.
—Ronald Blum, The Seattle Times, 16 Aug. 2017
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Her tweet was accompanied by an emoticon of a broken heart.
—Emily Sweeney, BostonGlobe.com, 23 Feb. 2021
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The Twitter default photo has gone through a number of changes throughout the years, including a person, emoticon and a bird.
—Queenie Wong, The Mercury News, 31 Mar. 2017
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Hundreds of people sent neon-colored heart emoticons in an endless stream.
—Sylvia Poggioli, The New York Review of Books, 29 Mar. 2020
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Instead, reading a happy face in the text of a work email made people think that the sender was less competent if the same message did not contain the emoticon, the researchers found.
—Julia Zorthian, Time, 14 Aug. 2017
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Also, a word to the wise; when in doubt about your ability to convey subtle humor like sarcasm, add an emoticon.
—Seriously Science, Discover Magazine, 5 Sep. 2014
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The emoticon was born after a physics thought experiment.
—Ed Yong, Discover Magazine, 22 Sep. 2012
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By the 1990s, the Japanese turned the sideways emoticon into a single character, now known as an emoji, and a bunch of symbols.
—Frank Witsil, Detroit Free Press, 2 Nov. 2017
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Sending Facebook hugs just got easier, thanks to this new emoticon.
—Arlene Martinez, USA TODAY, 18 Apr. 2020
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For those who are unfamiliar, the yellow emoticon currently has downturned eyes and wears a white mask.
—Dalvin Brown, USA TODAY, 7 Oct. 2020
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But all are united in their waxing nostalgic about the golden days of Buddy Lists, emoticons, and pointless chats with SmarterChild.
—Andrea Park, Glamour, 6 Oct. 2017
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Overuse of fancy fonts, colors, and emoticons turned plenty of AIM profiles into crimes against graphic design.
—Kyle Orland, Ars Technica, 8 Oct. 2017
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Those doodles began to make their way into internet writing with the advent of the first emoticon, : - ), in 1982, and then went on to blossom into the vast expressive form of emoji.
—Constance Grady, Vox, 2 Aug. 2019
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Hsu also shared a sweet picture of her and the actor cuddling up to each other on her Instagram last week, captioning the post simply with a smiling emoticon.
—Shafiq Najib, Peoplemag, 1 Dec. 2022
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From those two simple emoticons (a portmanteau combining the words emotion and icon) have sprung dozens of others that are the joy, or bane, of e-mail, text-message and instant-message correspondence the world over.
—Brita, WIRED, 19 Sep. 2011
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Angry emoticons There are many similar customer complaints on Art Van's Facebook page.
—Jc Reindl, Detroit Free Press, 9 Apr. 2020
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Otherwise basic pieces include embroidered-on kitschy phrases or emoticons, at not-so-cheap prices.
—Eliza Huber, refinery29.com, 4 May 2020
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Twitter feeds quickly filled with teary, wailing GIFs and heart emoticons cracked in two — pithy punctuation about anemic 401(k) accounts being whittled down to wisps.
—Tiffany Hsu, New York Times, 7 Feb. 2018
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On Twitch, while all channels are free, subscribing to a channel gives viewers perks like subscriber-only chat, subscriber-only emoticons and discounts on merchandise.
—Laura Parker, New York Times, 12 Apr. 2017
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This was likely the first emoticon, a kind of emotional shorthand that emerged in online communications to compensate for the loss of in-person tonal clues (facial expressions, gestures, and so forth).
—Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 1 Dec. 2019
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Podcasts, film clips, emoticons, and emojis are the new pictographs of an increasingly illiterate public.
—Victor Davis Hanson, National Review, 17 Oct. 2017
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An emoticon conveying the smugness felt after giving an unexpected explanation of the origins of one’s wealth and success.
—Madeline Hester, The New Yorker, 2 July 2022
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In the aftermath, some Facebook executives have taken to Twitter for a public charm offensive, sending pithy phrases and emoticons to reporters who cover the company.
—Sheera Frenkel and Nellie Bowles, New York Times, 30 Mar. 2018
Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'emoticon.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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