Cry lustily about onset of rough altercation (5)
I believe the answer is:
brawl
'altercation' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'cry lustily about onset of rough' is the wordplay.
'cry lustily' becomes 'bawl'.
'about' indicates putting letters inside.
'onset of' suggests taking the first letters.
The first letter of 'rough' is 'r'.
'bawl' going around 'r' is 'BRAWL'.
(Other definitions for brawl that I've seen before include "Rough, noisy fight" , "Fracas" , "I'd punt for a learned person" , "Rowdy fight" , "dispute" .)