ambivalent

Etymology

According to the revised OED, it is borrowed from German ambivalent, a word of the Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler, who used it in 1910 in a passage that was translated into English in 1912;^[2] it is formed from the prefix ambi- and the element -valent.^[2][3] Merriam-Webster Unabridged likewise says that the word was first formed in German.^[3] Barnhart and Etymonline instead take the English adjective as a back-formation from ambivalence,^[4][5] Barnhart specifically from ambivalency on the analogy of equivalent and equivalency,^[6][7] and the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English derive it from ambivalence on the pattern of equivalent.^[8][9] Ambivalence is from German Ambivalenz, which Bleuler coined about 1910 from the Latin prefix ambi-, both, on both sides, and Latin valentia (“strength, vigour”), from valēns, the present participle of valeō (“to be strong”).^[10][4][6] French borrowed ambivalent from German too, first in a translation of Freud in 1924.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In psychoanalysis and psychology, having or relating to strongly opposed feelings, beliefs or urges, such as love and hate, at the same time: 1912, in W. A. White's translation of Bleuler.^[2] Barnhart and Etymonline date the adjective to 1916,^[6][4] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged to 1909.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline notes that the word began as a term of psychology and was in general use by 1929.^[4] The OED finds the general sense, of a person with mixed or contradictory feelings about something, from 1919, in a heading in the New-York Tribune;^[2] of an attitude or relationship from 1923;^[2] and of something open to contradictory interpretations from 1922, again in a translation from German.^[2] Today the word often means simply undecided or unsure.^[2]

Timeline

• 1912 – in psychology, marked by the coexistence of opposed emotions or urges.^[2]
• 1919 – of a person, having mixed or contradictory feelings; undecided.^[2]
• 1922 – open to different or contradictory interpretations.^[2]
• 1923 – of an attitude or relationship, marked by mixed or uncertain feelings.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Having mixed or contradictory feelings or attitudes about someone or something; unable to decide: He was ambivalent about moving to the city.^[3][11][2]
2. Showing or marked by such mixed feelings: an ambivalent attitude to fame.^[3][2]
3. (psychology) Marked by the coexistence in one person of strongly opposed emotions or urges, such as love and hatred.^[2][3]
4. Open to different or contradictory interpretations; ambiguous.^[2]

Word family

• unambivalent

Related words

• ambiguous
• ambivalence
• equivalent
• valence

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
11. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins