Renowned revolutionary has an encounter in river (8)
I believe the answer is:
esteemed
'renowned' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are adjectives. Maybe you can see an association between them that I don't see?
I don't understand how the rest of the clue works.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for esteemed that I've seen before include "Thought highly of, say customer" , "Venerable" , "Well-regarded" , "Dear" , "Prized" .)