Ambivalency

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /æmˈbɪvələnsi/

Definitions

1. A condition involving simultaneous conflicting feelings or thoughts about an issue
2. The experience of holding opposing views or emotions simultaneously concerning a particular matter
3. The state of possessing mixed emotions or contradictory attitudes towards a specific subject matter

Etymology: Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler coined the German "Ambivalenz" in 1910, and he did it on purpose. He needed a term for the simultaneous pull of opposing emotions, such as loving and hating the same person, which he saw as a central feature of schizophrenia. Bleuler built it from Latin "ambi-", meaning "both", and "valentia", meaning "strength", a noun from the verb "valere", "to be strong", which also gave English "valiant". The sense was "both strengths", pulling in two directions at once. The English form took the same root but a different ending. "Ambivalence" is the standard spelling, and "ambivalency" is a variant of it, shaped on the model of French-derived words ending in "-ence". By 1929 the German term had moved beyond psychiatry into literary and everyday use, and English writers adopted it for the general state of being torn between two feelings.

Synonyms: uncertainty, indecision, mixed feelings, ambiguity, conflictedness

Antonyms: certainty, decisiveness, clarity, confidence, assurance