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I'm looking for words that capture the meaning: being mentally divided or split. The feeling of "I'm not sure", insofar as one is heavily weighing the pros and cons of an idea on a intellectual or emotional level.
For example, you could write: "The question challenged his beliefs - suddenly he was divided." I feel however "divided" or "split" doesn't capture the implied meaning of moral compromise here.
I struggle to find a better word here, though I am sure it exists.
Thesaurus.com mentions
Main Entry: forked
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: going separate ways
Synonyms: angled, bifid, bifurcate, bifurcated, branched, branching, dichotomous, dichotomic, divaricate, divided, furcate, furcated, pronged, split, tined, tridented, zigzag
Antonyms: joined, unbranched
When talking about the mind being split you could use bifurcated or dichotomic (Divided into two branches or forks)
Another expression you could use is
He was in two minds
The word for '...The feeling of "I'm not sure", insofar as one is heavily weighing the pros and cons of an idea on a intellectual or emotional level.' is 'dilemma'. I have also seen the 'types' of dilemma which may include 'mental' or 'ethical'.
If the question challenges your belief, you could be in a dilemma whether or not to keep the 'belief' anymore.
Others may come up with more words.
