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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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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

"We're not talking about Playboy magazine, you know, we're talking about Anna Karenina and War and Peace," Ms Hayes said.

From BBC Aug. 31, 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

Instead of eating his lunch, he told you what Oblonsky and Levin had for lunch in Anna Karenina.

From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides

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