Briefly p___ against vacuous, childish p___ (6)
I believe the answer is:
brooch
'briefly p' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.
'against vacuous childish p' is the wordplay.
'against' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'vacuous' suggests removing the centre.
'p' becomes 'broo' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'childish' with its centre taken out is 'ch'.
'ch' put after 'broo' is 'BROOCH'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for brooch that I've seen before include "Ornamental hinged pin with clasp" , "Jewellery item with pin" , "Piece of jewellery" , "Ornament fastened with a pin" , "prehistoric tower" .)