Rector in church almost put off for ages? (7)
I believe the answer is:
chronic
'rector in' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are adjectives. Perhaps you can see an association between them that I can't see?
'church almost put off for ages?' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'church' could be 'ch' (common abbreviation) and 'ch' is located in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for chronic that I've seen before include "Deep-seated - long-lasting" , "(Of disease) long-lasting" , "(Of illness) deep-seated" , "(Of illness) lasting a long time" , "(Of a problem) long-lasting" .)