Zola

American  

[zoh-luh, zaw-la] / ˈzoʊ lə, zɔˈla /

noun

1. Émile 1840–1902, French novelist.

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Zola British  

/ zɔla, ˈzəʊlə /

noun

1. Émile (emil). 1840–1902, French novelist and critic; chief exponent of naturalism. In Les Rougon-Macquart (1871–93), a cycle of 20 novels, he explains the behaviour of his characters in terms of their heredity: it includes L'Assommoir (1877), Nana (1880), Germinal (1885), and La Terre (1887). He is also noted for his defence of Dreyfus in his pamphlet J'accuse (1898)

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Other Word Forms

• Zolaesque adjective

Example Sentences

Having studied philosophy at Sogang University in Seoul, the soft-spoken filmmaker is also known as a great lover of literature, especially Emile Zola and Philip Roth.

From Barron's • Feb. 26, 2026

Runners are adapting wedding save-the-date templates from Zola, a nuptials planning site, and Canva, an online graphic design tool.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 1, 2025

“There is a contrast between the dreamy, aspirational images couples want to emulate, the trends they want to incorporate, and the reality of what their budget allows,” Zola notes.

From MarketWatch • Oct. 25, 2025

Frank Lampard obviously comes to mind as well as Zola but then there is Didier Drogba, there is Diego Costa and Eden Hazard...

From BBC • May 23, 2025

It is as if Terese is trying out what it would be like to be Zola.

From "The Unfinished Angel" by Sharon Creech