How to Use ambivalent in a Sentence

ambivalent

adjective
Definition of ambivalentnext
Synonyms for ambivalentnext
  • The play is ambivalent, in the end, about wellness claims.
    — Helen Shaw, Vulture, 27 Feb. 2022
  • As to the future of the culture wars, Mr. Hunter is ambivalent.
    — Jason Willick, WSJ, 25 May 2018
  • For her part, Menard has long been ambivalent about firearms.
    — Jabin Botsford, Washington Post, 27 Mar. 2023
  • The effect is ambivalent: Are the dark streaks meant to be read as tears, the result of the subject’s sorrow?
    — William Meyers, WSJ, 23 Feb. 2019
  • Alexie was ambivalent about competing in this year’s K300 at the end of the month.
    — Zachariah Hughes, Anchorage Daily News, 20 Jan. 2023
  • Mark seemed ambivalent at times urging Brett on and at times telling him to stop.
    — Caroline Hallemann, Town & Country, 27 Sep. 2018
  • On top of that, the show has an ambivalent attitude towards the '80s.
    — Christian Holub, EW.com, 23 July 2022
  • Mark seemed ambivalent, at times urging Brett on and at times telling him to stop.
    — Fox News, 27 Sep. 2018
  • All that remains, by the film’s final shot, is an ambivalent wall of sound.
    — Lauren Michele Jackson, The New Yorker, 22 Dec. 2023
  • Yet the job has always been cursed with a kind of ambivalent status.
    — Ron Elving, NPR, 30 Mar. 2024
  • In this view, Iraq is at best an ambivalent partner and at worst a tacit foe.
    — Steven Simon and Adam Weinstein, Foreign Affairs, 27 Sep. 2023
  • My ex is ambivalent and does not seem to care whether our daughter stays over the weekends with me or not.
    — Carolyn Hax, Washington Post, 28 Aug. 2023
  • Nord Stream 2 is not yet active, but Germany has been ambivalent about the prospect of shutting the project down.
    — Fabrice Robinet, The New Yorker, 11 Feb. 2022
  • But an obituary in The New York Times struck an ambivalent tone.
    — Jeremy Lybarger, The New Republic, 7 Oct. 2021
  • Among the other two camps of RNC members, one is ambivalent, at least for the moment.
    — David M. Drucker, Washington Examiner, 12 Nov. 2020
  • And the next day, the resident comes out and makes some comments that were highly ambivalent about that event.
    — Fortune Editors, Fortune, 9 Nov. 2023
  • The whole dispute reflects some ambivalent feelings, both in Greece and around the world, about the value of the past and which bits of it matter most.
    — The Economist, 10 Dec. 2019
  • Hunting is a way of life, and the Scotts and others are ambivalent about gun restrictions.
    — Valerie Bauerlein, WSJ, 23 Mar. 2018
  • The duo created and star in the show, about a widowed and wayward tech genius and his ambivalent son.
    — Marco Della Cava, USA TODAY, 29 Mar. 2023
  • Israel and the West were long ambivalent about Assad's fate.
    — Hannah Parry, Newsweek, 9 Dec. 2024
  • But the movie’s Gawain is already ambivalent about his calling.
    — Katy Waldman, The New Yorker, 3 Aug. 2021
  • But lately, some have been ambivalent about that prospect.
    — Farah Yousry, Chicago Tribune, 21 Aug. 2022
  • Even her two sons feel ambivalent at best these days about winter.
    — Katherine J. Wu, The Atlantic, 19 Dec. 2022
  • But there's got to be room for an eyebrow raise and an ambivalent shuffle-step to the side when something new rolls up the parade route.
    — Chelsea Brasted, NOLA.com, 11 Jan. 2018
  • The Texas Freedom Network hit a more ambivalent note in its year-end report.
    — Katie Worth, Scientific American, 20 June 2022
  • His narrators are quiet and ambivalent, and live in the shadow of the Second World War.
    — Max Norman, The New Yorker, 20 Nov. 2021
  • The public is ambivalent about the war, and other events will intervene.
    — Rich Lowry, National Review, 20 Aug. 2021
  • Your kids may seem ambivalent about school and avoidant about discussing the upcoming year.
    — Megan Marples, CNN, 9 Aug. 2021
  • Also important may be Elon Musk, who in Ukraine remains an ambivalent figure.
    — Nataliya Gumenyuk, Foreign Affairs, 15 Nov. 2024
  • Club captain Roy Keane, certainly, was broadly ambivalent, focusing mainly on the chance to get some winter sun.
    — Jack Lang, The Athletic, 7 Jan. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'ambivalent.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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