Academic may reach toilet bursting (11)
I believe the answer is:
theoretical
'academic' is the definition.
(similar in meaning)
'reach toilet bursting' is the wordplay.
'bursting' indicates an anagram.
'reach'+'toilet'='reachtoilet'
'reachtoilet' with letters rearranged gives 'THEORETICAL'.
'may' is the link.
(Other definitions for theoretical that I've seen before include "Academic" , "Hypothetical" , "concerned with supposition" , "Cheat toiler (anag) - speculative" , "Not linked to practice" .)