Beluga essentially very dear, commonly (3)
I believe the answer is:
luv
'dear commonly' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I can't judge whether this works.
'beluga essentially very' is the wordplay.
'essentially' means to look at the middle letters.
'very' becomes 'v' (abbreviation).
The central letters of 'beluga' are 'lu'.
'lu'+'v'='LUV'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for luv that I've seen before include "Term of endearment" , "show affection informally" .)