Aware of a wicked uprising (5)
I believe the answer is:
alive
'aware of' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'a wicked uprising' is the wordplay.
'wicked' becomes 'evil' ('evil' is associated in meaning with 'wicked').
'uprising' says the letters should be written backwards.
'evil' reversed gives 'live'.
'a'+'live'='ALIVE'
(Other definitions for alive that I've seen before include "Alert, active" , "operative?" , "Vital, vibrant" , "Spirited" , "Teeming (with)" .)