Condemned cat in lair died (9)
I believe the answer is:
denounced
'condemned' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both to do with communicating as well as being past participle verbs.
Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'cat in lair died' is the wordplay.
'cat' becomes 'ounce' (ounce can mean a snow leopard).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'lair' becomes 'den' (synonyms).
'died' becomes 'd' (abbreviation next to the year of someone's death).
'den'+'d'='dend'
'ounce' put into 'dend' is 'DENOUNCED'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for denounced that I've seen before include "Condemned openly" , "Publicly condemned" .)