We can see quite clearly that LMAO was in common use in the early 1990s, and it simply took off from there. The important subtlety is that LMAO means something is very, very funny, whereas LOL perhaps only implies something is humorous but not actually funny-not, ironically, in a way that would make you literally laugh out loud. In any case, if someone says LMAO directly to you, then they are likely just saying that something is funny and agreeing with you. Often, on social media, LMAO is a way of indicating that something funny or bad is about to happen on a wide scale, or simply that someone has made a fool of themselves in some way.

It can have other senses, too, subtly different though still essentially meaning the same thing.

So, it can have this simple sense of just something being very funny. If someone told a joke or said something funny, you might just respond “LMAO”. It’s very often used just as a standalone response to something, as well. It indicates that you found something funny, whether you are laughing now or you were done laughing ten minutes ago. “I can’t believe you said that to him, LMAO!” for example. While this depends on the person, lol usually is more casual, whereas lmao means something is quite a bit funnier. The best way of seeing this term is as a somewhat more intense version of “lol”. This, of course, isn’t possible-but let’s look past that for now! It’s a way of saying that something is extremely funny, and that you are laughing so much and so hard you might somehow laugh until your butt falls off.

LMAO stands for laughing my ass off in texting.

What lmao means