Mangle set, broken, in bits (9)
I believe the answer is:
segmental
'in bits' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are adjectives.
Maybe you can see an association between them that I don't see?
'mangle set broken' is the wordplay.
'broken' indicates an anagram.
'mangle'+'set'='mangleset'
'mangleset' anagrammed gives 'SEGMENTAL'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for segmental that I've seen before include "As, say, Orange" , "Composed of distinct parts" .)