Meaning of occasionally steamy goings-on? (9)
I believe the answer is:
semantics
'meaning' is the definition.
(semantics is the study of meaning)
'occasionally steamy goings-on?' is the wordplay.
'occasionally' indicates alternate letters.
'goings-on?' becomes 'antics'.
The alternate letters of 'steamy' are 'sem'.
'sem'+'antics'='SEMANTICS'
'of' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for semantics that I've seen before include "The significance of a text" , "The meaning attached to words" , "Branch of linguistics to do with meaning" , "Branch of linguistics concerned with meanings" , "Meaning to study" .)