Crossword Genius

Single wrong accepted by general public as horror (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

ugliness

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'horror' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I can't understand how they can define each other.

'single wrong accepted by general public' is the wordplay.
'wrong' is an anagram indicator.
'accepted by' is an insertion indicator.
'general public' becomes 'us' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'single' with letters rearranged gives 'glines'.
'glines' inserted into 'us' is 'UGLINESS'.

'as' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for ugliness that I've seen before include "Quality that gives no pleasure to the senses" , "Unsightly quality" , "repulsive attribute" , "Unattractive quality" , "Hideous aspect" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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