A married woman in the country (7)
I believe the answer is:
america
'country' is the definition.
(America is an example)
'a married woman' is the wordplay.
'married' becomes 'm'.
'woman' becomes 'erica' (**).
'a'+'m'+'erica'='AMERICA'
'in the' is the link.
(Other definitions for america that I've seen before include "Where's Virginia?" , "huge landmass" , "Continent of the Western Hemisphere" , "Country bordering Mexico" , "Race aim (anag)" .)