Briefly compelled to accommodate initially intransigent spinster (4)
I believe the answer is:
maid
'spinster' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'briefly compelled to accommodate initially intransigent' is the wordplay.
'briefly' means to remove the last letter.
'compelled' becomes 'made' (I've seen this in another clue).
'to accommodate' is an insertion indicator.
'initially' suggests taking the first letters.
The first letter of 'intransigent' is 'i'.
'made' with its final letter taken off is 'mad'.
'mad' enclosing 'i' is 'MAID'.
(Other definitions for maid that I've seen before include "Serving girl" , "Damsel" , "One in service" , "daughter?" , "- - -of-all-work" .)