Start dispersing uprisers (8)
I believe the answer is:
surprise
'start' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both acts as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe you can see a link between them that I don't see?
'dispersing uprisers' is the wordplay.
'dispersing' indicates an anagram.
'uprisers' is an anagram of 'SURPRISE'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for surprise that I've seen before include "Something unexpected" , "One of spelt out words" , "Bombshell" , "Unexpected occurrence" , "Astound" .)