Loathsome defendant admits resistance (8)
I believe the answer is:
accursed
'loathsome' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are adjectives. Maybe you can see a link between them that I can't see?
'defendant admits resistance' is the wordplay.
'defendant' becomes 'accused' (synonyms).
'admits' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'resistance' becomes 'r' (electronics abbreviation).
'accused' enclosing 'r' is 'ACCURSED'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for accursed that I've seen before include "Goddamn" , "Wretched" , "Detestable (colloq.)" , "Hateful" , "Cue cards (anag) - doomed" .)