Goodness, what a shame about the echo! (5)
I believe the answer is:
piety
'goodness' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both human attributes as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe you can see an association between them that I can't see?
'a shame about the echo' is the wordplay.
'a shame' becomes 'pity' ('pity' can be a synonym of 'shame').
'about' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'the echo' becomes 'e' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.).
'pity' enclosing 'e' is 'PIETY'.
'what' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for piety that I've seen before include "Religious feeling" , "Holiness" , "Reverent quality" , "paying proper duty" , "religious behaviour" .)