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Anna Karenina

American  
[an-uh kuh-ren-uh-nuh, ah-nuh kuh-rye-nyi-nuh] / ˈæn ə kəˈrɛn ə nə, ˈɑ nə kʌˈrjɛ njɪ nə /

noun

  1. a novel (1875–76) by Leo Tolstoy.


Anna Karenina Cultural  
  1. (1873–1876) A novel by Leo Tolstoy; the title character enters a tragic adulterous affair and commits suicide by throwing herself under a train.


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Anna Karenina begins with the famous sentence “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”

Example Sentences

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She was also known for her work on the big screen in films such as Anna Karenina, Saving Grace and Miss Potter.

From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026

Most enterprises fail — the so-called Anna Karenina principle.

From MarketWatch ● May 13, 2026

There are many older works that are worth reading, of course, and Shakespeare, Ulysses, Anna Karenina, Frankenstein, and Mrs Dalloway can all be found on Project Gutenberg.

From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2024

“All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way,” opens Leo Tolstoy’s novel Anna Karenina.

From Scientific American ● Nov. 2, 2023

For much of the journey, the teenager has been reading a paperback copy of Anna Karenina for a class in Russian literature.

From "The 57 Bus" by Dashka Slater

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