Misses southern singer holding nothing back (6)
I believe the answer is:
avoids
'misses' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both to do with communicating as well as being verbs in their -s form.
Perhaps you can see a link between them that I can't see?
'southern singer holding nothing back' is the wordplay.
'southern' becomes 'S' (abbreviation).
'singer' becomes 'diva' (diva is a kind of singer).
'holding' is an insertion indicator.
'nothing' becomes 'o' (looks like zero - 0).
'back' shows that the letters should be reversed in order.
's'+'diva'='sdiva'
'sdiva' placed around 'o' is 'sdiova'.
'sdiova' backwards is 'AVOIDS'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for avoids that I've seen before include "Shuns, keeps away from" , "Escapes" , "Ducks (out of)" , "Keeps away or refrains from" , "Steers clear of, dodges" .)