Broken oar left for examination (4)
I believe the answer is:
oral
'for examination' is the definition.
(oral examination is a kind of examination)
'broken oar left' is the wordplay.
'broken' is an anagram indicator.
'left' becomes 'l' (common abbreviation).
'oar' anagrammed gives 'ora'.
'ora'+'l'='ORAL'
(Other definitions for oral that I've seen before include "Ant; tourist (dial.)" , "Verbal" , "Spoken, of the mouth" , "Via the mouth" , "Said - form of test" .)