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

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

Compare meaning

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

• Tolstoy vs. Dostoevsky

Example Sentences

Leo Tolstoy wrote that there is no happiness in life — only its glimmers.

From MarketWatch • May 22, 2026

“Now it’s a lot about plot and action or character — not so much setting and scene location, which is what you get with Tolstoy or John Dos Passos.”

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 28, 2026

In “Anna Karenina,” for instance, Tolstoy immediately plunges into a melodrama of infidelity, marriage proposals and ballroom dancing.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 11, 2026

There were other influences: He was reportedly a voracious reader of Victor Hugo, John Steinbeck and Leo Tolstoy.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 28, 2026

No disrespect to Shakespeare, Tolstoy, or Moby-Dick is intended by this, for every poet knows it already.

From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood