Being worthy of (8)
I believe the answer is:
meriting
<span class="explanation-format__ClueExplanation">'<span class="explanation-format__original">being worthy of</span>' is the definition.<br/ ><span class="explanation-format__explanation">('meriting' can be a synonym of 'worthy of')</span><br/ ><br/ >This is the entire clue.<br/ ></span>
(Other definitions for meriting that I've seen before include "Deserving, worthy of" , "Earning" .)