Bearing designs affected tension (8)
I believe the answer is:
edginess
'tension' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'bearing designs affected' is the wordplay.
'bearing' becomes 'e'.
'affected' indicates anagramming the letters.
'designs' anagrammed gives 'dginess'.
'e'+'dginess'='EDGINESS'
(Other definitions for edginess that I've seen before include "State of nervous tension" , "Feeling of anxiety, disquietude" , "Tenseness, nervousness" .)