Insubordination turns to apathy when daughter replaces son (9)
I believe the answer is:
insolence
'insubordination' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both acts as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps you can see an association between them that I don't see?
'turns to apathy when daughter replaces son' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'when' could be 'e' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'e' is located in the answer.
an anagram of 'son' is 'nso' which is located in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for insolence that I've seen before include "Lip; cheek" , "Front" , "freshness" , "Sauce" , "Rude disrespect" .)