Government official limiting one’s bother (5)
I believe the answer is:
grief
'bother' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both related to thinking as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps there's a link between them I don't understand?
'government official limiting one's' is the wordplay.
'government' becomes 'g' (abbreviation for government).
'official' becomes 'ref' (match official in football, say).
'limiting' indicates putting letters inside.
'one' becomes 'I' (Roman numeral).
'ref' placed around 'i' is 'rief'.
'g'+'rief'='GRIEF'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for grief that I've seen before include "Sharp sorrow" , "Great mourning" , "Deep sorrow" , "Suffering" , "Great sorrow at someone's death" .)