A role only one woman can take (4)
I believe the answer is:
aida
'a role' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are singular nouns.
Maybe there's a link between them I don't understand?
'only one woman can take' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'one' could be 'i' (Roman numeral) and 'i' is present in the answer.
'woman' could be 'ada' (woman's name) and 'ada' is located in the remaining letters.
No letters remain.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for aida that I've seen before include "She dies with Radams (Verdi)" , "Verdi's slave girl" , "Egyptian opera by 11 Down" , "Verdi's opera set in ancient Egypt" , "title role" .)