David Copperfield

American  

[dey-vid kop-er-feeld] / ˈdeɪ vɪd ˈkɒp ərˌfild /

noun

1. a novel (1850) by Charles Dickens.

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David Copperfield Cultural  

1. (1849–1850) A novel by Charles Dickens, largely the story of Dickens's own life. David Copperfield is sent away to work at a very young age and grows to manhood over the course of the book. The account of David's grim boyhood was designed to expose the cruel conditions of child labor in Britain at the time.

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Example Sentences

This has been such a great few years for retellings of the classics — from Barbara Kingsolver’s updated David Copperfield to Salman Rushdie’s zany Don Quixote.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 5, 2026

In another, Maxwell and magician David Copperfield, both in bathrobes, embrace in front of white columns.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 20, 2025

Dame Maggie won critical acclaim for her role as Betsey Trotwood in a BBC adaptation of David Copperfield at the turn of the century.

From BBC • Sep. 27, 2024

And right there and then I started writing my own David Copperfield.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 11, 2023

He had, like David Copperfield, been so long on his own that the ways of his peers were alien.

From "Geeks: How Two Lost Boys Rode the Internet Out of Idaho" by Jon Katz