ambivalence

noun

am·​biv·​a·​lence am-ˈbi-və-lən(t)s 

1

: simultaneous and contradictory attitudes or feelings (such as attraction and repulsion) toward an object, person, or action

felt ambivalence toward his powerful father

ambivalence toward marriage

2

a

: continual fluctuation (as between one thing and its opposite)

b

: uncertainty as to which approach to follow

ambivalence about their goals

Examples of ambivalence in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

While Jean Seberg once imbued Cécile with girlish petulance, McInerny gives the role an electric charge of ambivalence. —Natalia Winkelman, New York Times, 1 May 2025

An aid-worker for LGBTQ+ youth on a ticking-clock quest to bear children of her own, Lee has endured two wrenching rounds of in vitro fertilization and, just as painfully, her partner’s ambivalence about having kids at all. —Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 17 Apr. 2025

Their brows are furrowed, their mouths are pouty, their faces are twisted into ever-more over-the-top expressions of longing and ambivalence. —Ellen Cushing, The Atlantic, 27 Mar. 2025

Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, the cigar-smoking hound puppet performed by writer-comedian Robert Smigel, zeroed in on the ambivalence some people have about going to the Kennedy Center right now. —Elizabeth Blair, NPR, 24 Mar. 2025

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from German Ambivalenz, from ambi- ambi- + -valenz, in Äquivalenz equivalence

Note: See note at ambivalent.

First Known Use

1909, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for ambivalence

• equivalence

Medical Definition

ambivalence

noun

am·​biv·​a·​lence am-ˈbiv-ə-lən(t)s 

: simultaneous and contradictory attitudes or feelings (as attraction and repulsion) toward an object, person, or action

ambivalence which is expressed in behavior by alternating obedience and rebellion

—G. S. Blum

ambivalent

-lənt 

adjective

ambivalently adverb