- infamiesnounChapter 1 →
Extremely wicked or shameful acts; deeds so outrageous they bring public disgrace and moral condemnation.
“if you still try to defend the infamies and horrors perpetrated by that Antichrist”
- perpetratedverbChapter 1 →
Carried out or committed, especially a harmful, criminal, or morally wrong act.
“if you still try to defend the infamies and horrors perpetrated by that Antichrist”
- illegitimateadjectiveChapter 1 →
Born to parents who were not married to each other; in this period, such a person had no automatic legal right to inherit a title or estate.
- adjutantnounChapter 2 →
A military officer who serves as a senior commander's personal assistant, handling orders, communications, and administrative duties in the field.
- screwing up his eyesphraseChapter 2 →
Narrowing or squinting the eyes tightly, here expressing disbelief or quiet contempt rather than physical difficulty seeing.
“Kutuzov looked at Mack and, screwing up his eyes, shook his head slightly, as if he could not believe what he saw.”
- vanitynounChapter 3 →
The emptiness and worthlessness of worldly ambitions and achievements; the idea that glory, wealth, and status are ultimately meaningless.
“All is vanity, all falsehood, except that infinite sky.”
- loftyadjectiveChapter 3 →
Reaching to a great height; impressively vast and elevated, used here to convey the sky's overwhelming, humbling immensity.
“Above him there was now nothing but the sky—the lofty sky, not clear yet still immeasurably lofty, with grey clouds gliding slowly across it.”
- abyssnounChapter 5 →
A deep, bottomless chasm; used here figuratively to mean a point of no return where a drastic and irreversible change must be faced.
“He felt that he was standing on the edge of an abyss, and that he must either go back or step forward.”
- reproachnounChapter 5 →
A look or feeling of blame and disappointment directed at someone, suggesting they have failed or let another person down.
“On her dead face was an expression of pity, of love, and of reproach against him.”
- quitrentnounChapter 6 →
A fixed payment made by a serf or tenant to a landowner in place of performing labour services; a form of rent common in pre-reform Russia.
“Not about the military regulations, not about the arrangement of the Ryazan serfs' quitrent.”
- serfsnounChapter 6 →
Peasants legally bound to a landowner's estate in tsarist Russia, who could be bought and sold with the land and were required to work for or pay dues to their master.
“not about the arrangement of the Ryazan serfs' quitrent”
- MasonsnounChapter 6 →
Members of Freemasonry, a secretive fraternal organisation whose members pledged brotherhood, moral self-improvement, and charitable works through rituals and shared beliefs.
“He was in the Masons not because he believed in their teaching, but because he needed a community of good men.”
- captivatingadjectiveChapter 8 →
So charming and full of life that it holds a person's complete attention and admiration, making it impossible to look away.
“Prince Andrei looked at Natasha and was struck by the joyful, captivating expression on her face.”
- twinklingadjectiveChapter 8 →
Shining with a rapidly flickering, intermittent light; used of stars whose light seems to pulse or waver as seen from Earth.
“He looked at the sky, at the depths of the retreating, twinkling stars.”
- Grande ArméenounChapter 9 →
The name for Napoleon's main invasion force, a massive multinational army assembled for the 1812 campaign into Russia; the phrase is French for 'Great Army.'
- greatnessnounChapter 9 →
True moral and human excellence, as opposed to mere military fame or political power; Tolstoy uses it to mean genuine worth of character.
“There is no greatness where there is no simplicity, goodness, and truth.”
- recreationnounChapter 10 →
A pleasant leisure activity done for enjoyment; used here sarcastically to contrast the comfortable, game-like way some people talk about war with its brutal reality.
“War is not a polite recreation, but the vilest thing in life, and we ought to understand that and not play at it.”
- vilestadjectiveChapter 10 →
The most disgusting, cruel, and morally reprehensible; the superlative form of 'vile,' meaning utterly wicked and degrading.
“War is not a polite recreation, but the vilest thing in life, and we ought to understand that and not play at it.”
- philosophic inquiryphraseChapter 10 →
The habit of questioning, reasoning, and searching for deeper meaning and truth; here presented as a quality that makes a soldier less effective because it breeds doubt.
“he needs the absence of the highest and best human qualities — love, poetry, tenderness, philosophic inquiry”
- queenless hivephraseChapter 11 →
A beehive that has lost its queen bee and is therefore dying, purposeless, and emptying out; used as a comparison for a city drained of its people and vitality.
“it was empty in the sense that a dying queenless hive is empty”
- menacingadjectiveChapter 12 →
Threatening and dangerous in a way that inspires fear; suggesting that great harm is about to be delivered.
“The cudgel of the people's war was lifted with all its menacing and majestic strength”
- cudgelnounChapter 12 →
A short, heavy club used as a weapon; here used figuratively to represent the brutal, blunt force of the Russian people's collective resistance to the French invasion.
“The cudgel of the people's war was lifted with all its menacing and majestic strength”
- majesticadjectiveChapter 12 →
Impressively grand and powerful in a way that commands awe and respect; suggesting a force that is both enormous and dignified.
“The cudgel of the people's war was lifted with all its menacing and majestic strength”
- partisanadjectiveChapter 14 →
Relating to irregular fighters who operate behind enemy lines, using guerrilla tactics such as ambushes and raids rather than formal battlefield combat.
- dull-wittedadjectiveChapter 14 →
Lacking cleverness or sophistication; here used approvingly to mean straightforward and unrefined, acting on instinct rather than elaborate strategy.
“with dull-witted simplicity, but with perfect fitness, it rose and fell”
- DecembristadjectiveChapter 16 →
Relating to the Decembrist movement, a group of Russian nobles and officers who in December 1825 staged an uprising demanding constitutional reform and the end of serfdom.
War and PeaceNovel by Leo Tolstoy