Animated a veil badly (5)
I believe the answer is:
alive
'animated' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'a veil badly' is the wordplay.
'badly' indicates an anagram (letters in the wrong order).
'veil' anagrammed gives 'live'.
'a'+'live'='ALIVE'
(Other definitions for alive that I've seen before include "Still in use, not dead" , "Existing - vigorous" , "Teeming (with)" , "Quick - breathing" , "answer, as it happens" .)