diff --git a/docs/apireference.rst b/docs/apireference.rst
index 9e6ed474..304755fc 100644
--- a/docs/apireference.rst
+++ b/docs/apireference.rst
@@ -31,6 +31,9 @@ Documents
 .. autoclass:: mongoengine.document.MapReduceDocument
   :members:
 
+.. autoclass:: mongoengine.ValidationError
+  :members:
+
 Querying
 ========
 
diff --git a/docs/guide/defining-documents.rst b/docs/guide/defining-documents.rst
index 1e404c03..ba7a5801 100644
--- a/docs/guide/defining-documents.rst
+++ b/docs/guide/defining-documents.rst
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ arguments can be set on all fields:
 
 :attr:`required` (Default: False)
     If set to True and the field is not set on the document instance, a
-    :class:`~mongoengine.base.ValidationError` will be raised when the document is
+    :class:`~mongoengine.ValidationError` will be raised when the document is
     validated.
 
 :attr:`default` (Default: None)
diff --git a/docs/guide/document-instances.rst b/docs/guide/document-instances.rst
index 4e799ec7..54fa804b 100644
--- a/docs/guide/document-instances.rst
+++ b/docs/guide/document-instances.rst
@@ -91,5 +91,5 @@ is an alias to :attr:`id`::
 .. note::
 
    If you define your own primary key field, the field implicitly becomes
-   required, so a :class:`ValidationError` will be thrown if you don't provide
-   it.
+   required, so a :class:`~mongoengine.ValidationError` will be thrown if
+   you don't provide it.
diff --git a/mongoengine/base.py b/mongoengine/base.py
index adb40d87..6007d3af 100644
--- a/mongoengine/base.py
+++ b/mongoengine/base.py
@@ -25,7 +25,15 @@ class InvalidDocumentError(Exception):
 
 class ValidationError(AssertionError):
     """Validation exception.
+
+    May represent an error validating a field or a
+    document containing fields with validation errors.
+
+    :ivar errors: A dictionary of errors for fields within this
+        document or list, or None if the error is for an
+        individual field.
     """
+
     errors = {}
     field_name = None
     _message = None
@@ -43,10 +51,12 @@ class ValidationError(AssertionError):
 
     def __getattribute__(self, name):
         message = super(ValidationError, self).__getattribute__(name)
-        if name == 'message' and self.field_name:
-            return message + ' ("%s")' % self.field_name
-        else:
-            return message
+        if name == 'message':
+            if self.field_name:
+                message += ' ("%s")' % self.field_name
+            if self.errors:
+                message += ':\n' + self._format_errors()
+        return message
 
     def _get_message(self):
         return self._message
@@ -57,6 +67,13 @@ class ValidationError(AssertionError):
     message = property(_get_message, _set_message)
 
     def to_dict(self):
+        """Returns a dictionary of all errors within a document
+
+        Keys are field names or list indices and values are the
+        validation error messages, or a nested dictionary of
+        errors for an embedded document or list.
+        """
+
         def build_dict(source):
             errors_dict = {}
             if not source:
@@ -73,6 +90,20 @@ class ValidationError(AssertionError):
             return {}
         return build_dict(self.errors)
 
+    def _format_errors(self):
+        """Returns a string listing all errors within a document"""
+
+        def format_error(field, value, prefix=''):
+            if isinstance(value, dict):
+                new_prefix = (prefix + '.' if prefix else '') + str(field)
+                return '\n'.join(
+                        [format_error(k, value[k], new_prefix) for k in value])
+            else:
+                return (prefix + ": " if prefix else '') + str(value)
+
+        return '\n'.join(
+                [format_error(k, v) for k, v in self.to_dict().items()])
+
 
 _document_registry = {}