… left at home with spouse forming connections (7)
I believe the answer is:
linking
'forming connections' is the definition.
(making links or connections)
'left at home with spouse' is the wordplay.
'left' becomes 'L' (common abbreviation).
'at home' becomes 'in' ('I'm in' can mean 'I'm at home').
'with' says to put letters next to each other.
'spouse' becomes 'king' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'l'+'in'+'king'='LINKING'
(Other definitions for linking that I've seen before include "Joining" , "Connecting, putting together" , "Connecting, fastening" .)