Practices showing us points (4)
I believe the answer is:
uses
'practices' is the definition.
(I know this)
'us points' is the wordplay.
'points' becomes 'Es' (E is an example).
'us'+'es'='USES'
'showing' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for uses that I've seen before include "Puts to a particular purpose" , "'Purposes, functions (4)'" , "Functions, applications" , "Takes (drugs)" , "Consumes; treats" .)