Braver without leader, less young (5)
I believe the answer is:
older
'less young' is the definition.
('old' can be the opposite of 'young' so perhaps 'older' is reasonable for 'less young')
'braver without leader' is the wordplay.
'braver' becomes 'bolder' ('bold' can be similar in meaning to 'brave').
'without leader' means to remove the first letter.
'bolder' with its first letter removed is 'OLDER'.
(Other definitions for older that I've seen before include "Earlier" , "More senior" , "More elderly" , "More aged" , "Increasingly mature" .)