Parent initially discarded sage - differently (9)
I believe the answer is:
otherwise
'differently' is the definition.
(I know that differently can be written as otherwise)
'parent initially discarded sage' is the wordplay.
'parent' becomes 'mother' (type of parent).
'initially discarded' means to remove the first letter (the initial letter is discarded).
'sage' becomes 'wise' (similar in meaning).
'mother' with its first letter taken away is 'other'.
'other'+'wise'='OTHERWISE'
(Other definitions for otherwise that I've seen before include "Apart from that" , "Alternatively" , "As an alternative - like white rose" , "Differently - or else!" , "in different circumstances" .)