ambivalent
[am-biv-uh-luh nt]
- having mixed feelings about someone or something; being unable to choose between two (usually opposing) courses of action: The whole family was ambivalent about the move to the suburbs. She is regarded as a morally ambivalent character in the play.
- Psychology. of or relating to the coexistence within an individual of positive and negative feelings toward the same person, object, or action, simultaneously drawing him or her in opposite directions.
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Origin of ambivalent
back formation from ambivalence
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for ambivalent
Contemporary Examples
Sometimes she sees clients who are ambivalent about their kink identities.
True to form, Palmer is ambivalent about Weaver, with whom he does commercials and TV commentary.
On some level, Brecht meant for Mother Courage to be an ambivalent figure—he called her “a great living contradiction.”
Many people are ambivalent about it, including many ardent pro-choice activists.
Korda argues convincingly that Lee was ambivalent about slavery.
Historical Examples
Let us recall that in our earlier discussion we took note of the ambivalent character of love.
Herein is LoveReuel L. Howe
Thus we find again that taboo has grown out of the soil of an ambivalent emotional attitude.
Totem and TabooSigmund Freud
With the decline of this ambivalence the taboo, as the compromise symptom of the ambivalent conflict, also slowly disappeared.
Totem and TabooSigmund Freud
Let us suppose the subject has ambivalent feelings toward his father.
A Practical Guide to Self-HypnosisMelvin Powers
Word Origin and History for ambivalent
adj.
1916, originally a term in psychology; back-formation from ambivalence. In general use by 1929.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper