In dreadful court, getting evasive (8)
I believe the answer is:
indirect
'evasive' is the definition.
('indirect' can be similar in meaning to 'evasive')
'in dreadful court getting' is the wordplay.
'dreadful' becomes 'dire' ('dire' can be a synonym of 'dreadful').
'court' becomes 'ct'.
'getting' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'in'+'dire'+'ct'='INDIRECT'
(Other definitions for indirect that I've seen before include "Circumlocutory" , "Deviating, not straight" , "Circuitous, oblique" , "Rambling" , "In credit, not being straight" .)