ˈdouble-minded, a.
Having two ‘minds’; undecided or wavering in mind. † Also, formerly, having two meanings, an overt and a concealed.
| 1552 Huloet, Dowble mynded, or of many wyttes, altriplex. 1611 Bible Jas. i. 8 A double minded man is vnstable in all his wayes. 1727 H. Herbert tr. Fleury's Eccl. Hist. I. 161 Thou shalt not be either double-tongued or double-minded. 1834 J. H. Newman Par. Serm. (1837) I. iii. 42 It is the double-minded who find difficulties. 1961 New Eng. Bible James i. 8 A man of that kind must not expect the Lord to give him anything; he is double-minded, and never can keep a steady course. Ibid. iv. 8 You who are double-minded, see that your motives are pure. |
Hence double-ˈmindedness, the state of being double-minded (in either sense).
| 1608 W. Sclater Malachy (1650) 29 Lameness Is hypocrisie, double-mindedness. 1646 H. Lawrence Comm. Angells 121 Insincerity and double-mindednesse. 1654 H. L'Estrange Chas. I (1655) 71 The Amphibology, the double-mindednesse of the word ‘dux’. 1881 Gladstone Sp. at Leeds 7 Oct., Feeble double-mindedness that does not see its own intention. |