Absolutely avoid someone doomed to failure (4,4)
I believe the answer is:
dead duck
'failure' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'absolutely avoid someone doomed' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'absolutely' could be 'dead' (synonyms) and 'dead' is found in the answer.
'avoid' could be 'duck' (duck can mean to avoid) and 'duck' is found in the answer.
This accounts for all the letters.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'to' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for dead duck that I've seen before include "Useless thing or person" , "Something unsuccessful, like moribund mallard" , "Person or thing doomed to failure" , "Unsuccessful person or thing" , "It's useless or failed, like moribund mallard" .)