"LOL" Definition.

LOL, an abbreviation for laughing out loud, or laugh out loud, is a common element of Internet slang. It was used historically on Usenet but is now widespread in other forms of computer-mediated communication, and even face-to-face communication. It is one of many initialisms for expressing bodily reactions, in particular laughter, as text, including initialisms for more emphatic expressions of laughter such as LMAO ("laughing my ass off" ), ROTFL ("roll(ing) on the floor laughing" ) or ROFL ("roll(ing) on [the] floor laughing" ), and BWL ("bursting with laughter", above which there is "no greater compliment" according to technology columnist Larry Magid). Other unrelated expansions include the now mostly historical "lots of luck" or "lots of love" used in letter-writing.

The list of acronyms "grows by the month" and they are collected along with emoticons and smileys into folk dictionaries that are circulated informally amongst users of Usenet, IRC, and other forms of (textual) computer-mediated communication. These initialisms are controversial, and several authors recommend against their use, either in general or in specific contexts such as business communications.

•lolz: Occasionally used in place of LOL.
• lulz: Often used to denote laughter at someone who is the victim of a prank, or a reason for performing an action. This variation is often used on the Encyclopedia dramatica wiki and 4chan image boards. According to a New York Times article about Internet trolling, "lulz means the joy of disrupting another's emotional equilibrium." Can be used as a noun — e.g. "do it for the lulz.", shortened into "ftlulz" (to distinguish it from "ftl" - "for the loss" ). See also LulzSec.
• lolwut: lol + wut, used to indicate bemused laughter, or confusion.
• Lawl or Lal: Pseudo-pronunciation of LOL. Saying "lawl" is sometimes meant in mockery of those who use the term LOL, and is not meant to express laughter.
• LOLOLOLOL: For added emphasis, LOL can be appended with any number of additional iterations of "OL". In cases such as these, the abbreviation is not to be read literally (i.e., "Laughing out loud out loud out loud out loud" ), but is meant to suggest several LOLs in a row.
• trolololol or trollololol: A portmanteau of troll and LOL iterated. Indicates that the prank or joke was made by internet trolls, or the user thinks the prank or joke qualifies as internet trolling.
• LMAO: For "Laughing my ass off". Variant: LMFAO ("Laughing my fucking ass off" ).
• ROFL: For "Rolling on the floor laughing". It is often combined with LMAO for added emphasis as ROFLMAO ("Rolling on the floor laughing my ass off" ). Variant: ROTFL.
• Roflcopter: A portmanteau of ROFL and helicopter and popularized by the website www.roflcopter.com. The website contained the animated gif and nothing else. The term was supposedly first used by a Blizzard Entertainment moderator in the Warcraft III forum in 2003.