Cautious male in big top maybe kissed, we hear (11)
I believe the answer is:
circumspect
'cautious' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'male in big top maybe kissed we hear' is the wordplay.
'male' becomes 'm' (common abbreviation).
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'big top' becomes 'circus' (I've seen this before).
'maybe kissed' becomes 'pecked' (peck can mean to kiss).
'we hear' indicates a 'sounds like' (homophone) clue.
'pecked' sounds like 'pect'.
'm' placed into 'circus' is 'circums'.
'circums'+'pect'='CIRCUMSPECT'
(Another definition for circumspect that I've seen is " Prudent, cautious".)