Resipiscence

Pronunciation: re-SI-pi-sens

Definition: to regain one’s senses, to acknowledge a mistake one made.

Origin

This important adjective, dated back to the 1600’s, stems from the Late Latin resipiscentia or resipiscere meaning to recover one’s senses; both stemming for the Latin verb sapere meaning ‘to know’.

Why this word?

Knowledge is power; this we already know. I believe that the firmest, most acknowledging knowledge is the knowledge of self, and this is exactly what this word is about.

Both senses to the word represent a certain shift to one’s knowledge, in both senses the corrections of paths is core to the definition.

We all make mistakes, we all make wrong decisions; the question is, what do we do upon finding the right path? We can blindly continue following our way and only stop when we are bumped by the ugly truth, or we can come to our senses, admit of being wrong and proudly turn to the right direction.

How to use resipiscence?

This great word is a noun, representing one’s understanding of a wronged way or a mistake.

“It is about time John practices some resipiscence; I will not stay here for too long if he keeps treating me the way that he does”.

“Have you ever heard of resipiscence? Admitting your mistakes is admirable!”