Back off prior to officer following a French neighbour (6)
I believe the answer is:
monaco
'back off' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both locations as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'prior to officer following a french neighbour' is the wordplay.
'prior to' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'officer' becomes 'co' (Commanding Officer abbreviation).
'following' says to put letters next to each other.
'french neighbour' becomes 'mon' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'co' after 'a' is 'aco'.
'aco' put after 'mon' is 'MONACO'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for monaco that I've seen before include "Southwest European principality" , "Principality within France" , "Constitutional monarchy on the French Riviera" , "Home of the Grimaldis" , "Monte Carlo country" .)