ambivalence

Meaning

Noun

• The coexistence of opposing attitudes or feelings (such as love and hate) towards a person, object or idea.
• A state of uncertainty or indecisiveness.

Origin

• From German Ambivalenz ("simultaneous conflicting feelings"), from Latin ambo ("both") and valentia, from the verb valere (see valiant). The German term was coined by Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler in 1910; by 1929, it had taken on a broader literary and general sense.