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Definition of "dickens" [dick•ens]

  • Informal A severe reprimand or expression of anger: gave me the dickens for being late. (noun)
  • Informal Used as an intensive: What in the dickens is that? (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "dickens" in a sentence
  • "What the dickens is the government trying to do to the US?"
  • "I don't know who in dickens you think you are, but "good American" you certainly are not."
  • "But who the dickens is it? said Tommy, after shaking hands heartily with Nat."