Apologies if endless indulgence consumes us (7)
I believe the answer is:
excuses
'apologies' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both related to communication as well as being plural nouns.
Maybe there's a link between them I don't understand?
'endless indulgence consumes us' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'consumes' could be 'uses' (I've seen this in another clue) and 'uses' is located in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'if' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for excuses that I've seen before include "reasons for failure" , "Defences of offensive behaviour" , "Gives reasons for" , "Exempts or condones" , "Defences of objective behaviour" .)