Vicious uprising linked to letter ballot (9)
I believe the answer is:
dismissal
'ballot' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both acts as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe there's a link between them I don't understand?
'vicious uprising linked to letter' is the wordplay.
'vicious' becomes 'sid' (Sid Vicious).
'uprising' says the letters should be written backwards.
'linked to' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'letter' becomes 'missal' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'sid' in reverse letter order is 'dis'.
'dis'+'missal'='DISMISSAL'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for dismissal that I've seen before include "Termination of employment" , "ending" , "Discharge" , "job loss?" , "Sacking; end of innings" .)