Try to be a loveless, awful source of power (7)
I believe the answer is:
assault
'try' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both acts as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps you can see a link between them that I can't see?
I cannot understand how the rest of the clue works.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for assault that I've seen before include "The fool starts the attack" , "Attack associated with" , "set about" , "Sudden violent attack" , "Attack suddenly" .)