Want of truth from unfaithful criminal (9)
I believe the answer is:
falsehood
'want of truth' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both related to communication as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe there's a link between them I don't understand?
'unfaithful criminal' is the wordplay.
'unfaithful' becomes 'false' (synonyms).
'criminal' becomes 'hood' (hood is a kind of criminal).
'false'+'hood'='FALSEHOOD'
'from' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for falsehood that I've seen before include "Pork pie" , "Fictional account" , "Deception" , "Has fooled with lie" , "It might be hard to swallow" .)