Stop working, following trouble (4)
I believe the answer is:
fail
'stop working' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both to do with social activities as well as being verbs in their base form.
Maybe you can see an association between them that I don't see?
'following trouble' is the wordplay.
'following' becomes 'f' (used when citing page numbers etc).
'trouble' becomes 'ail' (synonyms).
'f'+'ail'='FAIL'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for fail that I've seen before include "Run out; flop" , "Be unable to achieve one's object" , "Go wrong" , "Fall short" , "Let down" .)