Coped with and held assembly (7)
I believe the answer is:
handled
'coped with' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'and held assembly' is the wordplay.
'assembly' is an anagram indicator.
'and'+'held'='andheld'
'andheld' with letters rearranged gives 'HANDLED'.
(Other definitions for handled that I've seen before include "Touched - held" , "Coped with" , "Dealt with" , "managed" .)