metanoia
A fundamental change of mind.
countable, uncountable
Sadly behind the great age of rowdy self-advertisement in which their lot has fallen, they seem not to have advanced one whit beyond John the Baptist and the Apostles, 1800 years ago, in their notions of the way in which the metanoia, the change of mind of the ill-doer, is to be brought about.
A spiritual or religious conversion.
countable, uncountable
There is therefore enthusiasm no less than resignation in an enlightened metanoia. You give up everything in the form of claims; you receive everything back in the form of a divine presence.
A fundamental change in the human personality.
countable, uncountable
A device used to retract a statement just made, and then state it in a better way.
countable, uncountable
“You know, folks, that’s the America that George Bush has left us. And that’s the America we’ll continue to get if George – excuse me, if John McCain is elected president of the United States of America. Freudian slip. Freudian slip.”
Two months after Obama’s autocue mishap, his vice-presidential running mate Joe Biden raised a laugh when he used metanoia in his speech to the Democratic convention:
Where it comes from
From Ancient Greek μετάνοια (metánoia, “repentance”, literally “afterthought”), a compound of μετά (metá, “after, with”) and νοέω (noéō, “to perceive, to think”).
Adapted from the Wiktionary entry metanoia (CC BY-SA 4.0).