Bears almost killed badger (6)
I believe the answer is:
hassle
'badger' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'bears almost killed' is the wordplay.
'bears' becomes 'has' (bear can mean to have or carry).
'almost' means to remove the last letter (most of the word but not all of it).
'killed' becomes 'slew' (historical past tense of slay).
'slew' with its last letter removed is 'sle'.
'has'+'sle'='HASSLE'
(Other definitions for hassle that I've seen before include "problem" , "Modern word for bother and annoyance" , "badger" , "(Cause) stressful annoyance (to)" , "Informally, annoyance or quarrel" .)