Tolstoy

American  

[tohl-stoi, tol-, tuhl-stoi] / ˈtoʊl stɔɪ, ˈtɒl-, tʌlˈstɔɪ /

Or Tolstoi

noun

1. Leo or Lev Nikolaevich Count, 1828–1910, Russian novelist and social critic.

---

Tolstoy British  

/ ˈtɒlstɔɪ, talˈstɔj /

noun

1. Leo , Russian name Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy. 1828–1910, Russian novelist, short-story writer, and philosopher; author of the two monumental novels War and Peace (1865–69) and Anna Karenina (1875–77). Following a spiritual crisis in 1879, he adopted a form of Christianity based on a doctrine of nonresistance to evil

---

Other Word Forms

• Tolstoian adjective
• Tolstoyan adjective
• Tolstoyism noun
• Tolstoyist noun

Compare meaning

How does tolstoy compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• Tolstoy vs. Dostoevsky

Example Sentences

Tolstoy took it a step further: You can infer from his work that he thought the moments in which we feel the greatest thankfulness are those in which we are most noble.

From The Wall Street Journal

Isaiah Berlin, drawing on an ancient Greek proverb, famously observed that Leo Tolstoy was a foxlike writer who knew many things but longed to be someone who, like the hedgehog, knew one big thing.

From The Wall Street Journal

Those lines are straight from a new translation of Leo Tolstoy's epic novel War & Peace, set in the world of Russian high society in the early 19th century.

From BBC

With apologies to Leo Tolstoy, fanatics are all alike, while each moderate is moderate in their own way.

From MarketWatch

In an aphorism sometimes attributed to Leo Tolstoy, sometimes to John Gardner, all literature relies on one of two plots: A person goes on a journey or a stranger comes to town.

From Salon