DickensianDic‧ken‧si‧an /dɪˈkenziən/ adjective 
Examples
a single mother living in a Dickensian block of flats
ExamplesEXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
Thesaurus- He describes his childhood as Dickensian in its poverty and hardship.
- The working conditions in the factory were positively Dickensian.
- They were living in a Dickensian apartment block without proper heating or running water.
- A Dickensian Christmas; a setting sun; a dainty damsel.
- And for no better reason than this Dickensian Government will not provide the cash.
- Despite her bleak background and threadbare, Dickensian sartorial habits, she certainly transmits an aura of elegance and gentility.
- In Dickensian days Fagin had his thieves' kitchen in London, where he taught youngsters to pick pockets.
- In his coat, Winchell looks like a Dickensian undertaker; he embarrasses me.
- Seeking vengeance, he employs two Dickensian thugs, with startling and bleakly hilarious results.
- The Dickensian workhouse mentality still exists, but you don't need to subscribe to it.
- They had a Dickensian air with enormous dormitories and little privacy.
Longman Language Activatorextremely old-fashioned► medieval
Dickensian buildings, living conditions etc are poor, dirty, and unpleasant: extremely old-fashioned and therefore annoying: · The plumbing in this house is medieval!positively medieval (=very medieval): · This so-called accounting system is positively medieval.
► out of the ark British informal extremely old-fashioned: · Their washing machine looks like it came out of the ark.· Her views on social policy are embarrassing -- really out of the ark.
► dinosaur a system, organization etc that is very old-fashioned and large and cannot continue to exist in the modern world: · The Health Service has become a dinosaur. It needs radical reform if it is to survive.· The line-up includes a number of rock-n-roll dinosaurs who should have hung up their guitars long ago.
► anachronism something such as an organization or custom that belongs to a time in the past, and therefore appears very strange in the modern world: · The harvest festival celebrations in the town are an anachronism since almost everyone who lives there nowadays works in an office.
► archaic use this about something that was used a long time ago but which is now considered too old-fashioned and needs replacing: · The text was full of archaic spellings.· The laws that decide who owns items discovered on an archeological exploration are ridiculously archaic.
► Dickensian buildings, conditions etc that are Dickensian are extremely old-fashioned and below acceptable standards, for example because they are dangerous or unhealthy: · They were living in a Dickensian apartment block without proper heating or running water.positively Dickensian: · The working conditions in the factory were positively Dickensian.
► the dark ages use this to talk about a society, system, or way of thinking that is extremely old-fashioned, especially in its social attitudes: · Huge amounts of aid will be needed if this society is ever to drag itself out of the dark ages.· My brother still doesn't like the idea of having a woman boss - he's stuck in the dark ages!
a single mother living in a Dickensian block of flats