Any one of the following (8)
I believe the answer is:
adherent
'following' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'any one of the' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'one' could be 'a' (a thing is one thing) and 'a' is found within the answer.
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is found within the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for adherent that I've seen before include "supporter of party" , "Weep" , "Loyal follower - sticks close" , "One supporting" , "Supporter; sticking" .)