Charming sailor goes through terrible ordeal (8)
I believe the answer is:
adorable
'charming' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'sailor goes through terrible ordeal' is the wordplay.
'sailor' becomes 'ab' (abbreviation for able seaman).
'goes through' indicates putting letters inside.
'terrible' indicates an anagram.
'ordeal' is an anagram of 'adorle'.
'ab' put into 'adorle' is 'ADORABLE'.
(Other definitions for adorable that I've seen before include "Very charming and attractive" , "sweet" , "Very pleasing" , "winning" , "Broad lea (anag.)" .)