Anomaly of hesitation by sailor with allowance (10)
I believe the answer is:
aberration
'anomaly' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'hesitation by sailor with allowance' is the wordplay.
'hesitation' becomes 'er'.
'by' says to put letters next to each other.
'sailor' becomes 'ab' (abbreviation for able seaman).
'with' says to put letters next to each other.
'allowance' becomes 'ration' (I've seen this before).
'er' put after 'ab' is 'aber'.
'aber'+'ration'='ABERRATION'
'of' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for aberration that I've seen before include "departure from normal" , "Wandering" , "Straying" , "irregularity" , "Slip" .)