Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com

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.


Discover More

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

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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

Just make a few changes, and you have the famous first sentence of Tolstoy’s great novel Anna Karenina: “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Look it up. Learn it forever.

Remember "Anna Karenina" for good with VocabTrainer. Expand your vocabulary effortlessly with personalized learning tools that adapt to your goals.

Take me to Vocabulary.com