"having simultaneous conflicting feelings or contradictory ideas about something," 1916, originally a term in psychology; a back-formation from ambivalence. In general use by 1929.
Entries linking to ambivalent
ambivalence n.
"simultaneous conflicting feelings," 1924 (by 1912 as ambivalency), from German Ambivalenz, coined 1910 by Swiss psychologist Eugen Bleuler on the model of German Equivalenz "equivalence," etc. (for which see equivalence), from Latin ambi- "both, on both sides" (see ambi-) + valentia "strength," an abstract noun from the present participle of valere "be strong" (from PIE root *wal- "to be strong"). A psychological term that by 1929 had taken on a broader literary and general sense.