Change before race, taking turn by turn (11)
I believe the answer is:
alternation
'turn by turn' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both acts as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe you can see an association between them that I can't see?
'change before race' is the wordplay.
'change' becomes 'alter' (synonyms).
'before' says to put letters next to each other.
'race' becomes 'nation' (both can mean a national or ethnic group).
'alter'+'nation'='ALTERNATION'
'taking' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for alternation that I've seen before include "Repeated changing from one thing to another" , "going by turns" , "rotation" , "Taking of turns" , "Interchange" .)