Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The coexistence of opposing attitudes or feelings, such as love and hate, toward a person, object, or idea.
- n. Uncertainty or indecisiveness as to which course to follow.
Wiktionary
- n. The coexistence of opposing attitudes or feelings (such as love and hate) towards a person, object or idea.
- n. A state of uncertainty or indecisiveness.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. mixed feelings or emotions; uncertainty or vacillation in making a choice.
- n. (Psychol.) the simultaneous existence within a person of both positive and negative feelings toward another person or action, or toward an object (as of attraction and revulsion), resulting in internal conflict.
WordNet 3.0
- n. mixed feelings or emotions
Etymologies
- From Latin ambi- ("both") and valentia ("strength"), from the verb valere ("to be strong") (see valiant). Coined 1910 by Swiss psychologist Eugen Bleule for "simultaneous conflicting feelings", by 1929 had taken on a broader literary and general sense. (Wiktionary)
- German Ambivalenz : Latin ambi-, ambi- + Latin valentia, vigor (from valēns, valent-, present participle of valēre, to be strong; see wal- in Indo-European roots). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“London was both fascinated and repulsed by what he saw in New York City and his ambivalence is apparent throughout the essay.”
Telic Action and Collective Stupidity: A Rare Jack London Essay
“Just for the sake of clarity, my ambivalence is about going from 2 to 3.”
“A certain degree of ambivalence is a sign of maturity," he says.”
The Wall Street Journal: Why So Many People Can't Make Decisions
“One of the most widely studied aspects of ambivalence is how it affects thinking.”
The Wall Street Journal: Why So Many People Can't Make Decisions
“After a few years embroiled in ambivalence, empathy, concern and more, the changes medication, consoling and more, can have on this person “at times” seemingly leaves them like an empty vessel where life, as we know it, has just been sucked out of them, and yes, they are indeed slower.”
“But in "The Monster Within," Barbara Almond tells us that such maternal ambivalence is common in every culture.”
The Washington Post: "The Monster Within: The Hidden Side of Motherhood," by Barbara Almond
“Almond calms the reader, suggesting that we can only do our best and trust that our ambivalence is more than compensated for by our devotion and love.”
The Washington Post: "The Monster Within: The Hidden Side of Motherhood," by Barbara Almond
“Many Americans these days are buying their first gold shares — but with a certain ambivalence, all too aware that the metal 's price can move suddenly.”
“His work's ambivalence is the source of its power.”
The Washington Post: New 'Vantage Point' show at American Indian museum shows off symbolic power
“I would agree that there's great amibivalence in the portrayal of these characters, and that the plays in which they appear ought not to be merely dismissed, but there's no point in denying that some of the ambivalence is unattractive, to say the least.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘ambivalence’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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sdamle1
echt
echt, apocalypse, resurgence, forthright, logorrhea, mercurial, torrid, exorcise, obscure, intrusive, morose, vindictive and 100 more...
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allover
reintegrate, spight, surveillant, harmonize, Colophon, workplace, bigoted, unsighted, bridgework, salutation, voltmeter, octane and 159 more...
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GRE Barron's 800
zealot, wistful, welter, wary, whimsical, warranted, vortex, vivisection, volatile, vitiate, viscous, visage and 787 more...
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GRE Passage Words
admonish, ephemeral, ambivalence, antipathy, antithetical, countenance, deride, eclectic, enigma, ethos, expediency, impinge and 15 more...
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A Refined Lexicon
ambivalence, ambivalent, equivocal, equivocation, equivocate, prevaricate, prevarication, quietude, quiescent, quiescence, vanquish, pluviosity and 137 more...
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Words I Know
List of most of the words I've learned
garner, abase, abate, abdicate, abduct, aberration, abet, abhor, abide, abject, abjure, abnegation and 1046 more...
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quality words
This is a mix of new words I've read studying for the GRE verbal and words I use normally. I also check back on these words if I don't use them often enough.
ineffable, septuagenarian, sesquipedalian, argyle, coalescence, profundity, vivisepulture, defenestrate, concatenate, usurp, diatribe, veracious and 461 more...
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Personal Vocabulary List
All my favourite words that I come across!
veritable, incongruence, rigamorole, letcherous, revolting, repulsive, reputrid, rapatious, forays, guise, placate, paradigm and 1162 more...
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cuzican's Words
lexicon, tirade, innocuous, apathy, narcissist, subtle, agnostic, plethora, malleable, catalyst, pithy, irate and 116 more...
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Macbeth
ambivalence, prescient, omniscient, equivocation, soliloquy, discourse, antithesis, allusion, analogy, anthropomorphism, dramatic irony, juxtaposition and 18 more...
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The Sog Collection
My big word list.
chaos, flaccid, empirical, flotsam, cacophony, grumble, assuage, awe, romance, mortality, coalesce, fortuitous and 3282 more...
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cxfx's list
callipygous, scaphism, ubermorgen, handschuhschneeba..., farctate, autohagiography, autolatry, spindrift, feculent, verisimilitude, brobdingnagian, ineluctable and 205 more...
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SAT Vocab
Redundant.
problematic, proclivity, prodigal, prodigious, prodigy, profane, profligate, profound, profusion, proliferation, prolific, prologue and 455 more...
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My GRE words
abase, abate, aberrant, abet, abeyance, abject, abjure, ablution, abnegation, abortive, abrogate, abscission and 140 more...
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The Last Werewolf
This novel by Glen Duncan, aside from being a ripping yarn and beautifully written, is just littered with words that I had to look up and discover that often his use of the word not only fitted per...
gurns, bok, chimney breast, dichotomy, Platonic form, filthy, Platonic Form, mathematics, BAM, skirls, clarity, blundering and 298 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for ambivalence.
Louises There's the ghost of ambivalence like a spirit that can't cross over. It's the price of double agency. From "The Last Werewolf" by Glen Duncan. Mar 21, 2012
Louises The beauty of chronic ambivalence is that even tiny shifts of detail have the power to tip the scales. From "The Last Werewolf" by Glen Duncan. Mar 3, 2012