Laments English that is accepted by members (7)
I believe the answer is:
elegies
'laments' is the definition.
('elegy' can be a synonym of 'lament')
'english that is accepted by members' is the wordplay.
'english' becomes 'e' (abbreviation).
'that is' becomes 'ie' ('i.e.' can be a synonym of 'that is').
'accepted by' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'members' becomes 'legs' (leg is a kind of member).
'ie' inserted into 'legs' is 'legies'.
'e'+'legies'='ELEGIES'
(Other definitions for elegies that I've seen before include "Lamenting poems" , "Poems of mourning" , "Mourning songs" , "Laments for the dead" .)