EpicentRx Word of the Week (WOW): Valence

Sep 30, 2024

“What was the emotional valence of the actor, Jack Palance?”

Valence

Definition (noun):

1) the combining power of an element in chemistry

2) tone, slant, meaning, judgement. “in retrospect, these comments take on a more negative valence”; “death and illness have a dark valence”; “tenderness is associated with a double valence: love and pain”; “the brain assigns valence to things”; “the valence of this dispute is clearly personal not political”; “emotional valences tend to change over time”; “corruption is a valence issue meaning that it is universally judged to be negative”

Pronunciation: vay-luhns

About the Word: From the Latin valentia “strength, worth.”