Almost clear up (4)
I believe the answer is:
over
'up' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'almost clear' is the wordplay.
'almost' means to remove the last letter (almost the whole word is kept).
'clear' becomes 'overt' (both can mean apparent or obvious).
'overt' with its last letter taken off is 'OVER'.
(Other definitions for over that I've seen before include "Finished like bowling session" , "Action far more drastic than necessary" , "settled" , "Accomplished" , "Unit of test" .)