Practicality little Violet put before skill (9)
I believe the answer is:
viability
'practicality' is the definition.
(viability is a kind of practicality)
'little violet put before skill' is the wordplay.
'little violet' becomes 'vi' (I am not sure about the 'little' bit.).
'put before' says to put letters next to each other.
'skill' becomes 'ability' (I've seen this before).
'vi'+'ability'='VIABILITY'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for viability that I've seen before include "Aptitude for living" , "likelihood of success" .)