emoticon

noun

1. A graphical representation of a particular emotion of the writer, used especially in SMS, email, or other electronic communication.

   “A remark intended humorously is often indicated by the letter G in parentheses, for "grin," or by a sideways happy face built from punctuation marks. Such symbols are known as emoticons.”

   “In a 4 by 2 experimental procedure, :) ;) :( or no emoticon were inserted alternately in simulated e-mail message mock-ups”

   “The range of interpretations was surprising broad, for instance the emoticon (-.-) had 16 possible interpretations”

   “When receiving a message like “We need to talk :(,” the emoticon implies that the conversation will involve bad or sad news. But a message like “I’m going to kill you :)” is most likely sarcastic. With text communication, in particular, it can be incredibly hard to understand intentionality — especially when there’s humor and sarcasm involved. Because of this, emoji and emoticons can be extremely useful to attach an element of feeling and emotion to the message.”

2. A graphical representation of a particular emotion of the writer, used especially in SMS, email, or other electronic communication.

   “In addition to placing emoticons by clicking icons in the pop-up panel shown in Figure 4-2, you can enter the text representation in your text chat window. For example, to show the image of the emoticon with sunglasses, you enter (cool).”