Anna Karenina principle
Anna Karenina principle proper noun: a notion stating that the success of an endeavor depends upon the fulfilment of several essential conditions, and a deficiency in any one of these factors dooms the endeavor to failure, meaning there are many different ways to fail.
Proper noun
Anna Karenina principle
- A notion stating that the success of an endeavor depends upon the fulfilment of several essential conditions, and a deficiency in any one of these factors dooms the endeavor to failure, meaning there are many different ways to fail.
- While there may be some truth in the Anna Karenina principle that all happy families are alike, but every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way, we increasingly have a better understanding of what makes for unhappiness and stress in the workplace.2011 July 15, Cary L Cooper, Stephen Wood, “Happiness at work: why it counts”, in The Guardian
- Japan is often convinced that its economic malaise since the 1980s is the root of its ills, but that link seems less than clear. […] It’s a variation on the Anna Karenina principle: All fertile societies are alike; each infertile society is infertile in its own way.2022 June 22, Gearoid Reidy, “The Fertility Crisis Started in Japan, But It Won’t Stay There”, in The Washington Post
Origin of Anna Karenina principle
Referring to Leo Tolstoy's 1877 novel Anna Karenina, which begins: “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” Popularized by American scientist Jared Diamond (born 1937) in his 1997 non-fiction book Guns, Germs, and Steel, in which he uses it to illustrate why so few wild animals have been successfully domesticated throughout history.
Questions about Anna Karenina principle
- What does Anna Karenina principle mean?
- Anna Karenina principle means a notion stating that the success of an endeavor depends upon the fulfilment of several essential conditions, and a deficiency in any one of these factors dooms the endeavor to failure, meaning there are many different ways to fail.
- What part of speech is Anna Karenina principle?
- Anna Karenina principle is a proper noun.
Words near Anna Karenina principle in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: Anna Karenina principle (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “Anna Karenina principle.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/anna_karenina_principle. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.