Ambivalence Definition
The coexistence of opposing attitudes or feelings (such as love and hate) towards a person, object or idea.
A state of uncertainty or indecisiveness.
- mercuriality
- unsettlement
- unsettledness
- fence-straddling
- double-mindedness
- conflicting feelings
- vacillation
- uncertainty
- ambivalency
Other Word Forms of Ambivalence
Noun
Origin of Ambivalence
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From German Ambivalenz (“simultaneous conflicting feelings”), from Latin ambo (“both”) and valentia (“strength”), from the verb valere (“to be strong”) (see valiant). Coined 1910 by Swiss psychologist Eugen Bleuler, by 1929 had taken on a broader literary and general sense.
From Wiktionary
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German Ambivalenz Latin ambi- ambi- Latin valentia vigor (from valēns valent-) (present participle of valēre to be strong wal- in Indo-European roots)
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
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