The following time, is gripped by an awful fear (5)
I believe the answer is:
after
'the following' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'time is gripped by an awful fear' is the wordplay.
'time' becomes 't'.
'is gripped by' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'an awful' indicates an anagram.
'fear' anagrammed gives 'afer'.
't' put into 'afer' is 'AFTER'.
(Other definitions for after that I've seen before include "In the time following" , "Behind; seeking" , "In pursuit of, behind" , "Looking for" , "Following - behind" .)