be of two minds

be of two minds

To experience indecision and/or conflicting emotions. I am of two minds about whether or not to go to the party tonight. I'm sure it will be fun, but I have a lot of work to do too. The committee is currently of two minds about a suitable punishment, but hopefully they can reach a decision in the morning.

See also: mind, of, two

of two minds, be

Be undecided, vacillate between two alternatives, as in She's of two minds about her new job-it's much closer to home but also less challenging. Put as in two minds, this idiom was first recorded in 1853, but variants such as diverse minds and twenty minds date back to the early 1500s.

See also: of, two

be of two minds

To have mixed feelings or be undecided about something.

See also: mind, of, two

be of/in two minds, to

To be unable to decide, to be in doubt. This turn of phrase goes back to the early sixteenth century, although the number two was not fixed. Jehan Palsgrave wrote (1530), “I am of dyverse myndes,” and in the eighteenth century several writers came up with as many as twenty minds. Dickens used both—“I was in twenty minds at once” (David Copperfield) and “. . . was in two minds about fighting or accepting a pardon” (A Child’s History of England).

See also: of, two