Dickensian

Syllables: Dick·ens·i·an/dɪˈkɛn.zɪ.ən//dəˈkɛn.zi.ən/

Dickensian adjective: of, pertaining to, or created by the English author Charles Dickens.

Image: Rischgitz, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Adjective

Dickensian (comparative more Dickensian, superlative most Dickensian)

Of, pertaining to, or created by the English author Charles Dickens.
Similar to Dickens' writing style, especially in commenting on society, or in using emotion, humour, or rich descriptions.
- a Dickensian name
Synonyms:

Dickenesque, Dickensesque, Dickensish, Dickens-like, Dickensy
Reminiscent of the environments and situations most commonly portrayed in Dickens' writings, such as poverty, social injustice, and other aspects of Victorian England.
- At last the first glimpse from a bridge of an open-top red bus, and a noticeable darkening of the atmosphere from the smoke of London: then the increasingly dingy stations with double-barrel names, set amid what has always been to me the outstanding feature of the "Premier Line" approach to...1951 October, R. S. McNaught, “Lines of Approach”, in Railway Magazine, page 704
- As though in expiation of their sires' wealth, schoolboys often had to live in conditions that would have disgraced a Dickensian workhouse.1988, Cecil D. Eby, “Playing the Game”, in The Road to Armageddon: The Martial Spirit in English Popular Literature 1870–1914, Durham, N.C.; London: Duke University Press, →ISBN, page 89
Synonyms:

Dickenesque, Dickensesque, Dickensish, Dickens-like, Dickensy

Dickensian (plural Dickensians)

A person who admires or studies the works of Charles Dickens.

Synonyms:

Dickensite

As many as twenty, all of varying style, standing together like ranks of jagged teeth, and providing a Dickensian back-cloth which no other route can boast.1951 October, R. S. McNaught, “Lines of Approach”, in Railway Magazine, page 704:
As earlier implied, the planet is threatened on three major fronts: […] (3) by a Dickensian world of wretched excess and wretched despair.1993, William Sloane Coffin, “A Vision of the Future”, in A Passion for the Possible: A Message to U.S. Churches, Louisville, Ky....

From Dickens (the surname of Charles Dickens (1812–1870)) + -ian (suffix forming adjectives or nouns meaning ‘belonging to, relating to, or like’).

What does Dickensian mean?: Dickensian means of, pertaining to, or created by the English author Charles Dickens.
How do you use Dickensian in a sentence?: As many as twenty, all of varying style, standing together like ranks of jagged teeth, and providing a Dickensian back-cloth which no other route can boast.
What part of speech is Dickensian?: Dickensian can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce Dickensian?: Dickensian is pronounced /dɪˈkɛn.zɪ.ən/ (UK).

Adapted from Wiktionary: Dickensian (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Dickensian.wav, En-us-Dickensian.ogg.

Cite this entry: “Dickensian.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/dickensian. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.