Could be impolitic, nothing less inferred (8)
I believe the answer is:
implicit
'inferred' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'could be impolitic nothing less' is the wordplay.
'could be' indicates an anagram.
'nothing' becomes 'o' (looks like zero - 0).
'less' indicates named letters should be taken away.
'impolitic' with 'o' taken out is 'implitic'.
'implitic' anagrammed gives 'IMPLICIT'.
(Other definitions for implicit that I've seen before include "Not actually stated" , "Latent, unexpressed" , "Taken for granted" , "Meant though not stated directly" , "Inferred" .)