A reassessment of a policy, position, etc., painfully enforced by a radical change of circumstances, or by a realization of what the existing circumstances really are (chiefly in political and journalistic use).
Origin
1950s.
Definition of agonizing reappraisal in US English:
agonizing reappraisal
noun
A reassessment of a policy, position, etc., painfully enforced by a radical change of circumstances, or by a realization of what the existing circumstances really are (chiefly in political and journalistic use).