Emoji dictionary
😶 Face Without Mouth emoji
[feys with-out mouth ih-moh-jee]
What does 
Face Without Mouth emoji mean?
The face without mouth emoji can be used as an emotional-tone marker to indicate sadness, loneliness, disappointment, emptiness, and genuine self-deprecation. It can also be used more literally as speechlessness or to represent zipping one’s lips. In some uses, it’s a symbolic marker for sheepishness.
Where does 😶 Face Without Mouth emoji come from?
Face without mouth emoji was included as part of Unicode 6.0 in 2010 and added to Emoji 1.0 in 2015. It first appeared in iOS after the iOS 5 update.
😶
Astronauts escape malfunctioning rocket – https://t.co/FsfsjNGyWr— steeledarren/tlach (@steeledarren) October 11, 2018
Examples of 😶 Face Without Mouth emoji
sorry if I'm being stupid.
Who uses 😶 Face Without Mouth emoji?
The face without mouth emoji can communicate a certain sense of despair. It often accompanies social media, blog, or forum posts written to indirectly reach out to others. Someone might make a post about shutting down and isolating themselves from others, and it might include the face without mouth emoji. Likewise, someone might text a friend about feeling lonely or unsure of their status with others, including this emoji.
sad how fast friendships fade 😶
— мα∂уѕσи fσѕтєя (@madysonnfoster) October 1, 2018
The face without mouth emoji can also be used passive aggressively. In situations where a person might subtweet on Twitter (or tweet negative things about a person without naming that person), they might also use the face without mouth emoji. There’s a sad smugness to this emoji when used in this way. For example, a person might tweet about the frustration they feel when they’re let down by people they prioritize in their life, and end that sentiment with a face without mouth emoji.
It doesn’t all have to be bad though. Sometimes, this emoji is used in situations where someone feels like they can’t offer any comments on the situation at hand. Perhaps, they’re literally speechless and post the face without mouth emoji as a reaction to something, either positive or negative. Maybe their favorite musician liked one of their posts on social media. Or, maybe they feel like they’re gabbing too much about something they’re passionate about, so they use the face without mouth emoji to show that they’re putting a lid on it.
So sad either Jamie or Dakota can't say anything nowadays that will cause drama 😶 pic.twitter.com/ZSgV9AmzAD
— Dornan Updates PT (FAN) (@jamiedornanpt) October 12, 2018
This emoji also works well when someone feels sheepish. This includes situations where they might be asking for a big favor or for advice when they know they’ve gotten themselves into a bad spot. For example, if someone were kicked out of their apartment and needed to humbly ask their friend for a place to stay, they might tack on the face without mouth emoji at the end of their request as a way to indicate that they know they are asking for a big favor.
Note
This is not meant to be a formal definition of 😶 Face Without Mouth emoji like most terms we define on Dictionary.com, but is rather an informal word summary that hopefully touches upon the key aspects of the meaning and usage of 😶 Face Without Mouth emoji that will help our users expand their word mastery.