Meanings
- pluralplural onlyset phraseSentiments or opinions regarding a person, situation, or other matter which are conflicted and cause perplexity or confusion.
[A]ll Sabbath observances, like a Scottish accent, strike in me mixed feelings, grateful and the reverse.
1903, Robert Louis Stevenson, chapter 2, in Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes4 more examples
I, for one, regarded this master-at-arms with mixed feelings of detestation, pity, admiration, and something opposed to enmity.
1850, Herman Melville, chapter 44, in White JacketArriving at Paddington, Mike stood on the platform, waiting for his box to emerge from the luggage-van, with mixed feelings of gloom and excitement.
1910, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter 3, in Psmith in the CityLast week Madison (pop. 67,500) learned, with mixed feelings, that it would get a morning paper and lose an afternoon one.
1948 November 29, “The Press: The Rivals”, in Time, retrieved 29 Dec 2017I had mixed feelings about the Sonata in F (Op. 54) — a departure from the printed program, noted in an insert — in which a deftly managed, elegantly characterized first movement was wedded to a tumultuous but unfocused Allegretto.
2013 May 8, Steve Smith, “Music Review: On Piano, a Point of View”, in New York Times, retrieved 29 Dec 2017Synonyms: mixed emotions
Synonyms & antonyms
nounSentiments or opinions regarding a person, situation, or other matter which are conflicted and cause perplexity or confusion.
Translations
German gemischtes Gefühl
- gemischtes GefühlTranslations
Spanish sentimientos encontrados
- sentimientos encontradosTranslations
Swahili hisia mseto
- hisia msetoTranslations
Cite this entry
mixed feelings. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mixed%20feelings
“mixed feelings.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mixed%20feelings. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “mixed feelings,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mixed%20feelings.
Source: mixed feelings on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.