Phases (6)
I believe the answer is:
stages
<span class="explanation-format__ClueExplanation">'<span class="explanation-format__original">phases</span>' is the definition.<br/ ><span class="explanation-format__explanation">('stage' can be a synonym of 'phase')</span><br/ ><br/ >This is all the clue.<br/ ></span>
(Other definitions for stages that I've seen before include "Stations" , "Shows" , "Platforms in theratres" , "Phases" , "Positions or points in a process" .)