Promotion by University of Los Angeles morphed into worship (9)
I believe the answer is:
adulation
'worship' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both acts as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe there's a link between them I don't understand?
'promotion by university of los angeles morphed into' is the wordplay.
'promotion' becomes 'ad' (short for advert).
'by university of' becomes 'u' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'los angeles' becomes 'LA' (abbreviation).
'morphed' indicates anagramming the letters (I've seen 'morph' mean this (the letters morph into a new form)).
'into' anagrammed gives 'tion'.
'ad'+'u'+'la'+'tion'='ADULATION'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for adulation that I've seen before include "Fulsome praise" , "Hero-worship" , "Worshipping" , "Praise - flattery" , "Servile flattery" .)