Educated Liberal fuming about note (8)
I believe the answer is:
literate
'educated' is the definition.
('literate' can be similar in meaning to 'educated')
'liberal fuming about note' is the wordplay.
'liberal' becomes 'l' (abbreviation).
'fuming' becomes 'irate' (I've seen this before).
'about' indicates putting letters inside.
'note' becomes 'te' (**).
'irate' enclosing 'te' is 'iterate'.
'l'+'iterate'='LITERATE'
(Other definitions for literate that I've seen before include "Relate it, being well read" , "version of 'speed of light'?" , "Erudite" , "Well-read" , "Scholarly" .)