A rebel soldier lost in scholarly setting (8)
I believe the answer is:
academia
'scholarly setting' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I cannot see how they can define each other.
'a rebel soldier lost' is the wordplay.
'rebel soldier' becomes 'cade' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'lost' becomes 'MIA' (military abbreviation for missing in action).
'a'+'cade'+'mia'='ACADEMIA'
'in' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for academia that I've seen before include "university circles" , "Universities etc." , "teaching community" , "Teaching environment" , "Educational community" .)