ambivalent
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\n \n Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 9, 2024 is:\n \n
\n \n\n ambivalent • \\am-BIV-uh-lunt\\ • adjective
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Someone described as ambivalent has or displays very different feelings (such as love and hate) about someone or something at the same time.
\n\n// Aya was ambivalent about starting her first year away at college\u2014excited for the new opportunities that awaited but sad to leave her friends and family back home.
\n\n\n \n \n\n Examples:
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\u201cIn 1985 my wife ... suggested that we go to Toronto to see the touring production of 'Cats.' She loved theater and musicals, while I had an ambivalent attitude. I had been in high school plays and enjoyed reading them, but musicals\u2014not so much.\u201d \u2014 Charles Schmidtke, The Buffalo (New York) News, 11 Jan. 2024
\n \n \n\n Did you know?
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Ambivalent typically describes either a person who has contradictory feelings about a thing, or the contradictory feelings themselves. For example, someone who is ambivalent about attending an event both wants and doesn\u2019t want to go; the person\u2019s feelings about attending the event are ambivalent. Ambivalent, along with the noun ambivalence, entered English during the early 20th century in the field of psychology, both terms being borrowings from German. The prefix ambi- means \u201cboth,\u201d and the -valent and -valence parts ultimately come from the Latin verb val\u0113re, meaning \u201cto be strong.\u201d Be careful not to confuse ambivalent with another ambi word, ambiguous, which means \u201chaving more than one possible interpretation.\u201d
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