resipiscence

1. (uncountable) Recognition of one or more past mistakes, especially with a desire to improve in the future; repentance; (countable) an instance of this.Examples: "And I haue already ſayd how ſinners for obteyning of pardon haue neede of repentance, which ſome like better to call Reſipiſcence, or amendment, and of change of minde: and the Lord promiſeth that he will pardon ſinners if they repent, if they amend and turne their hartes from their naughtie liues vnto hym."; "[T]hey vvill not haue to ſignifie a ſorrovvefull repentance, but a Resipiscence, or vvaxing vviſe againe vvhich God graunt they may doe vvithout any ſorrovve, or affliction of minde for that vvhich is paſt."; "[R]ecollect your conduct paſt, / That reſipiſc[e]nce may at laſt / Effectuate a change."literaryuncountableusually

2. (uncountable) The act of becoming comprehending, reasonable or responsible, especially after having behaved in an uncomprehending, unreasonable, or irresponsible manner; the act of coming to one's senses; (countable) an instance of this.Examples: "The most urgent thing to do seems to be that we come all together in having at once our Ministers in France give a joint declaration or like and simultaneous declarations which may bring to their senses the leaders of the violent party [behind the French Revolution] and avert desperate decisions by still leaving open to them a way for honest resipiscence and the peaceful establishment of a condition of things in France that will at least save the dignity of the Crown and the essential consideration of general tranquillity, […]"; "This return-to-oneself, resipiscence, 'rebirth,' is an infinitely dramatic and moving event, especially in a patient with a rich and full self, who has been dispossessed by disease for years or decades […] That a return to health or resipiscence is possible, in these patients with half a century of the profoundest illness, must fill one with a sense of amazement—that the potential for health and self can survive, after so much of the life and structure of the person has been lost, and after so long and exclusive an immersion in sickness."; "On June 16, 1993, the UN voted the embargo on petroleum and arms. With Bazin gone, there was not even a puppet government. After eighty-nine weeks (and how many thousands of hours of verbiage), the international community was finally headed in the only direction that might bring the military to resipiscence."literaryuncountableusually