mixed messages/signals

plural noun

: a showing of thoughts or feelings that are very different from each other

I don't know if he likes me; he keeps giving me mixed messages.

She's sending mixed signals about her feelings.

Examples of mixed messages/signals in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Valley View tests its siren on the first Thursday of each month, but on the two previous first Thursdays, stormy conditions prevented those tests from being performed, so as not to send mixed signals. —Cody Copeland, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 31 May 2024

The university didn’t publicly provide one, and the organizations received mixed messages from the administration. —Charles Homans Gabra Zackman Anna Diamond Quinton Kamara, New York Times, 29 May 2024

The controversy is the latest in a series of moves that many LGBTQ Catholics view as sending mixed messages. —Jason Derose, NPR, 28 May 2024

All in all, though, the economy is offering mixed signals. —Paolo Confino, Fortune, 28 May 2024

South Bay leaders have good reason to be concerned, starting with Wiener’s mixed messages about the purpose of the tax. —Daniel Borenstein, The Mercury News, 25 May 2024

Distance yourself from drama and chaos or those trying to confuse you by sending mixed messages. —Eugenia Last, The Mercury News, 16 May 2024

Children do best when parents are collaborative and have consistent rules and discipline between homes.2 Having two sets of rules in two different homes—if one parent allows television before bed and the other does not, for example—can send mixed messages to the children. —Michelle Dempsey-Multack, Parents, 14 May 2024

At former President Donald Trump’s two rallies in Wisconsin this year, voters have heard mixed messages on voting early. —Hope Karnopp, Journal Sentinel, 10 May 2024