We all know emoji as those lovable pictograms that show up everywhere on social media, in texting, and basically anywhere else people have any chance to use them. Emoji date back to the 1990s, and today there are thousands and thousands of emoji to choose from. Whatever emotion you’re feeling or topic you want to discuss, you can bet there’s a great emoji to go along with it.
But with so many emoji out in the wild, there has to be some overlap. If words have overlapping meanings and synonyms, then you would think emoji could also have synonyms, too. (Cue Thinking Face emoji 🤔!)
As it turns out, there are plenty of synonymous emoji—synonymoji?—out there. Many emoji are closely related to each other and are often used to mean just about the same thing. Whether you’re looking to expand your emoji repertoire or curious about how people use emoji, join us as we explore the wild 🤪 world of emoji synonyms.
Laughter 😂
There are actually several different emoji we use when laughing so hard that it hurts. Of course, you have the extremely popular Face With Tears Of Joy emoji 😂 and its kitty counterpart, Cat With Tears Of Joy emoji 😹. There are also a few other giggling goofballs, such as the Rolling On Floor Laughing emoji 🤣, and the Grinning Squinting Face emoji 😆. It is also popular among younger crowds to use the Skull emoji 💀 to say that you laughed so hard that you died—metaphorically, of course.
Sadness 😭
We’ll need to shed a tear (or 10) as we look at a handful of melancholy emoji that are always down in the dumps. Despite being one of the most popular emoji, Loudly Crying Face emoji 😭 won’t ever quit with the waterworks. It is joined in its sadness by a bunch of other glum chums, such as the Slightly Frowning Face emoji 🙁, the Frowning Face emoji ☹️, the Worried Face emoji 😟, the Disappointed Face emoji 😞, the Pensive Face emoji 😔, and the Crying Face emoji 😢. For those that don’t want their feline friends to be left out of the pity party, you also have the Crying Cat emoji 😿.
Anger 😠
Whether we’re mad, angry, full of rage, seeing red, or really cheesed off, we have quite a few irritable emoji to pick from to express our fury. You have the Angry Face emoji 😠 of course, but some other good choices include Angry Face With Horns emoji 👿, Enraged Face emoji 😡, Face With Steam From Nose emoji😤, and Face With Symbols On Mouth 🤬 if you’re spicing up your rage with a few colorful words.
Happiness 🙂
Now that we’ve calmed down, let’s check out all of the emoji we use to put on a happy face. You have some of the least interesting emoji around in this group, such as Slightly Smiling Face emoji 🙂, Smiling Face emoji ☺️, and Smiling Face With Smiling Eyes 😊. In addition to those, we also have Grinning Face emoji 😀, Grinning Face With Big Eyes emoji 😃, and Grinning Face With Smiling Eyes emoji 😄. Let’s not forget our good friends, Beaming Face With Smiling Eyes emoji 😁, Face With Sunglasses emoji 😎, and Smiling Face With Halo emoji 😇. But wait; there’s more! You can’t leave out Hugging Face emoji 🤗 or Winking Face emoji 😉. And our old pal Loudly Crying Face emoji 😭 often sneaks its way into this category to express those moments when we’re crying tears of joy. Honestly, it is pretty wholesome just how many happy emoji are out there.
Party 🥳
Now we’re talking! It’s time to go wild with the party animals of the emoji family. The Partying Face emoji 🥳, Party Popper emoji 🎉, Confetti Ball emoji 🎊, Balloon emoji 🎈, and Mirror Ball emoji 🪩 are invited to every bash we throw. You could probably think of a few other emoji that love to party, but we’re keeping this fiesta safe for the whole family.
Sick 🤢
Uh-oh. We think we may have partied a little too hard, because some of these emoji aren’t looking too good. Nauseated Face emoji 🤢 is usually around when people aren’t feeling well, but some other unfortunate emoji that find themselves in the doctor’s office include Face Vomiting emoji 🤮, Sneezing Face emoji 🤧, Face With Medical Mask emoji 😷, Face With Thermometer emoji 🤒, and Face With Head Bandage emoji 🤕. We wish these emoji and their users a quick and speedy recovery.
Skepticism and Disbelief 🤨
Hmmm, there is just something off about this next group of emoji. When you hear something you just can’t believe, these are the best emoji to use. Or are they? We need to investigate this a bit more… Face With Raised Eyebrow emoji 🤨, Face With Rolling Eyes emoji 🙄, Thinking Face emoji 🤔, Expressionless Face emoji 😑, Confused Face emoji 😕, and Face With Monocle 🧐 also have doubts about this questionable information. This group of emoji would work so well together if they’d just stop second guessing each other. Will they, though? We have our doubts.
Approval 👍
Let’s look at the bright side of things by checking out a squad of emoji that we often use to say how much we like something or agree with an awesome opinion. We can give something our stamp of approval using the Thumbs Up emoji 👍, the OK Hand emoji 👌, the One Hundred emoji 💯, the Clapping Hands emoji 👏, the Raising Hands emoji 🙌, the Eyes emoji 👀, the Sign Of The Horns emoji 🤘, the Red Heart emoji ❤️, the Raised Fist emoji ✊, or the Fire emoji 🔥. The Saluting Face emoji 🫡 is a newer emoji that also seems to often find itself stepping in line with this group.
Disapproval 👎
No. Just no. This rowdy bunch of emoji is often just what you need to say how much you dislike something, totally reject an opinion, or see something that is just cringe. Just say “no” with the Thumbs Down emoji 👎, Prohibited emoji 🚫, Person Gesturing No emoji 🙅, Face With Rolling Eyes emoji 🙄, Face With Diagonal Mouth emoji 🫤, or Face Vomiting emoji 🤮. The Clown Face emoji 🤡 and Pile of Poo emoji 💩 also often make appearances when someone is faced with what they think is truly the worst of the worst.
Love ❤️
Our next crop of emoji often shows up when people are in love or find something they love. We have a lovestruck trio of faces with Smiling Face With Hearts emoji 🥰, Smiling Face With Heart-Shaped Eyes emoji 😍, and Face Throwing A Kiss emoji 😘. In addition to those, we have a ton of emoji hearts. Some favorites include Red Heart emoji ❤️, Two Hearts emoji 💕, Sparkling Heart emoji 💖, Revolving Hearts emoji 💞, Heart With Arrow emoji 💘, Heart On Fire emoji ❤️🔥, and Heart Hands emoji 🫶.
Heartbreak 💔
Well, it can’t always work out. These pitiful emoji often show up when someone experiences heartbreak. Some popularly forlorn emoji include Broken Heart emoji 💔, Wilted Flower emoji 🥀, Crying Face emoji 😢, and the ever popular Loudly Crying Face emoji 😭.
LGBTQIA+ 🏳️🌈
When it comes to relationships, there are plenty of emoji that people use. For example, you have all of the different variations of the People Holding Hands emoji 🧑🤝🧑, the Kiss emoji 💏, and the Couple With Heart emoji 💑. In addition to relationships, there are several emoji people tend to use when discussing the LGBTQIA+ community, LGBTQIA+ issues, or LGBTQIA+ pride. For example, you have the Rainbow emoji 🌈, the Unicorn Face emoji 🦄, Rainbow Flag emoji 🏳️🌈, and Transgender Flag emoji 🏳️⚧️.
Cold 🥶
Brrrrr! Someone needs to turn up the heat, because we’re freezing. And we aren’t the only ones. Our favorite ice-cold emoji include Cold Face emoji 🥶, Snowflake emoji ❄️, Ice Cube emoji 🧊, Cloud With Snow emoji 🌨️, and Snowman Without Snow ⛄ emoji. These emoji always seem to show up when temperatures dip low or whenever winter rolls around. We need to go warm ourselves up.
Heat 🥵
How hot is it? It’s so hot that some of the sweatiest emoji showed up. As expected, you have Hot Face emoji 🥵. However, other spicy emoji like Fire emoji 🔥, Hot Pepper emoji 🌶️, Sun emoji ☀️, Thermometer emoji 🌡️, and Hot Springs emoji ♨️ are in danger of getting heat stroke. Hot off the presses is a new face joining this crew of emoji: the Melting Face emoji 🫠.
