In electronic communication, a multi-character symbol, created with ASCII characters, to express emotions and physical characteristics that would normally be communicated by body language and facial expressions in face-to-face communication. Note: Emoticons are most often used in informal e-mail messages and newsgroup postings and are usually designed to be viewed sideways. Some examples of emoticons are: Symbol Meaning Why? :-) happiness a smiley face :- ( unhappiness, disappointment a frown ;-) slyness, "just kidding" a wink :-o surprise, shock open mouth :- irony tilted mouth.