Ambivalent means pulled both ways at once about the same thing. Ambivalent about the move, deeply ambivalent, an ambivalent response.
It is not indifference: an ambivalent person has strong feelings on both sides, which is why it is so uncomfortable. The word came from psychoanalysis in the early twentieth century. Note that ambi- means both, as in ambidextrous, and the second half means strong.
1adjectiveambivalentPulled both ways at once about the same thing.
“She felt ambivalent about moving abroad, excited by the adventure but sad to leave her friends.”
ambivalent is a state of mixed feeling.
Also accepted in games: torn
A back-formation from ambivalence, coined in German from Latin ambi, both, plus valere, to be strong.
Proto-Indo-European
*h₂en-
Latin
ambi- — in two ways
German
Ambivalenz
English, today
ambivalent
Built from
a back-formation from ambivalence, from German Ambivalenz, from Latin ambi- (“in two ways”) + valeō (“be strong”); equivalent to ambi + valent. Compare ambivert.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA