Bent figure study, extremely clunky (8)
I believe the answer is:
tendency
'bent' is the definition.
(bent can mean a tendency or propensity)
'figure study extremely clunky' is the wordplay.
'figure' becomes 'ten' (ten is a number or figure).
'study' becomes 'den' (term for a study or office).
'extremely' says to hollow out the word (remove centre letters) (only the extremes of the word are used).
'clunky' with its centre taken out is 'cy'.
'ten'+'den'+'cy'='TENDENCY'
(Other definitions for tendency that I've seen before include "Inclination towards a particular behaviour" , "Penchant, inclination" , "Proclivity" , "'Inclination, disposition (8)'" , "Inclination or leaning" .)