Report on empty space filled with nitrogen gas (8)
I believe the answer is:
converse
'gas' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both to do with communicating as well as being verbs in their base form.
Perhaps you can see an association between them that I don't see?
'report on empty space filled with nitrogen' is the wordplay.
'report on' becomes 'cover' (synonyms).
'empty' says to hollow out the word (remove centre letters).
'filled with' indicates putting letters inside.
'nitrogen' becomes 'N' (N is the chemical symbol for nitrogen).
'space' with its middle removed is 'se'.
'cover'+'se'='coverse'
'coverse' enclosing 'n' is 'CONVERSE'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for converse that I've seen before include "speak" , "Opposing" , "Quite the opposite!" , "Turned round" , "discuss" .)