Defeatist, for example, in local (8)
I believe the answer is:
negative
'defeatist' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'example in local' is the wordplay.
'example' becomes 'eg'.
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'local' becomes 'native' ('native' can be similar in meaning to 'local').
'eg' going within 'native' is 'NEGATIVE'.
'for' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for negative that I've seen before include "Photographic image with tones reversed" , "Reversed-colours photo" , "This required for development" , "Not positive - denial" , "'Pessimistic, gloomy (8)'" .)