Sailors talked of stress, refusing to vote (10)
I believe the answer is:
abstention
'refusing to vote' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.
'sailors talked of stress' is the wordplay.
'sailors' becomes 'abs' (AB is short for able seaman).
'talked of' shows a homophone (sound like).
'stress' becomes 'tension' (synonyms).
'tension' is a homophone of 'tention'.
'abs'+'tention'='ABSTENTION'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for abstention that I've seen before include "endorsing no candidate" , "Sitting on fence" , "Refusal to vote" , "Keeping out of contest" , "Act of declining to vote" .)