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.

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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

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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

Yet like unhappy families, to borrow from Tolstoy, each unfinished national rebellion wanes in its own way.

From The Wall Street Journal

The Russian winter becomes a major plot point in Leo Tolstoy’s “War and Peace,” in which Napoleon attacks and fails to conquer a country bigger, colder and fiercer than anticipated.

From The Wall Street Journal

Many a genius has been not all that good at learning in a formal school setting: Blaise Pascal, Leo Tolstoy and Albert Einstein are notable examples.

From The Wall Street Journal

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