Recent upset? Diminished, losing initial upright character (9)

I believe the answer is:

erectness

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'upright character' is the definition.
'erectness' can be an answer for 'character' (thesaurus). I am not sure about the 'upright' bit.

'recent upset? diminished losing initial' is the wordplay.
'upset?' is an anagram indicator (I've seen 'upset' mean this).
'diminished' becomes 'less' (I've seen this in another clue).
'losing initial' means to remove the first letter.
'less' with its initial letter taken off is 'ess'.
'recent' anagrammed gives 'erectn'.
'erectn'+'ess'='ERECTNESS'

Can you help me to learn more?

Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.