Desert a professor embracing prohibition (7)
I believe the answer is:
abandon
'desert' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'a professor embracing prohibition' is the wordplay.
'professor' becomes 'don' (term for a university professor).
'embracing' indicates putting letters inside.
'prohibition' becomes 'ban' (ban is a kind of prohibition).
'a'+'don'='adon'
'adon' going around 'ban' is 'ABANDON'.
(Other definitions for abandon that I've seen before include "Junk" , "Evacuate; desert" , "Desert or yield without restraint" , "Maroon" , "Stop" .)