A slimmed-down outline can mean a lot to a woman (7)
I believe the answer is:
summary
'a slimmed-down outline can' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this definition defines the answer.
'a lot to a woman' is the wordplay.
'a lot' becomes 'sum' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'to a woman' becomes 'Mary' (woman's name).
'sum'+'mary'='SUMMARY'
'mean' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for summary that I've seen before include "Perfunctory" , "Synopsis, outline" , "Precis, gist" , "Abstract, short version" , "Arbitrary" .)