When there's occasion to attack, this can be dangerous (4,4)
I believe the answer is:
time bomb
'this can be dangerous' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both man-made objects as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'when there's occasion to attack' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'occasion' could be 'time' (I've seen this before) and 'time' is found within the answer.
'attack' could be 'bomb' (bombing is a kind of attacking) and 'bomb' is present in the answer.
This accounts for all the letters.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for time bomb that I've seen before include "Detonating mechanism with clock" , "one could go off after a while" , "Ticking peril" , "Device set to explode later" , "Preset explosive device" .)