Become less active in ancestral home after shock (4,1,4,4)
I believe the answer is:
take a back seat
'become less active' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't judge whether this works.
'ancestral home after shock' is the wordplay.
'ancestral home' becomes 'seat' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'after' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'shock' becomes 'take aback' (synonyms).
'seat' put after 'takeaback' is 'TAKE A BACK SEAT'.
'in' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for take a back seat that I've seen before include "Only watch, perhaps" , "Occupy a subservient position (behind the driver?)" , "Assume a subordinate position" , "remain inconspicuous" , "Some drivers do" .)