ISEE/SSAT Vocabulary BuilderWordsAambivalence
ISEE/SSAThard
ambivalence
Meaning: a state of having mixed or contradictory feelings about something
ambivalence in a sentence
How ambivalence is used in real sentences:
Her ambivalence about moving to a new city kept her awake at night.
He felt a strange ambivalence toward the promotion, excited about the title yet reluctant to leave his old team.
“Ortiz felt ambivalence about removing the dramatic example: it fascinated visitors, yet retaining it would reward a mistaken inference.”
— from the passage The Archive in Wood
Synonyms for ambivalence
Other words for ambivalence — indecision, uncertainty and hesitancy — carry the same meaning.
- indecision
- uncertainty
- hesitancy
Antonyms of ambivalence
Words that mean the opposite of ambivalence:
- certainty
- conviction
Where it comes from
From Latin ambi- 'both' + valentia 'strength'
Word parts
- ambi/amphi — both, on both sides, around
ambivalence: ambi- (both) + valent (strong, having power)
Memory hook
AMBI (both) + VALENCE (strength) — pulled with equal strength both ways at once.
Practice ambivalence in the app