Crossword Genius

Disheartened daughter gets expelled (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

dejected

'disheartened' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'daughter gets expelled' is the wordplay.
'daughter' becomes 'd'.
'gets' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'expelled' becomes 'ejected' ('eject' can be a synonym of 'expel').
'd'+'ejected'='DEJECTED'

(Other definitions for dejected that I've seen before include "Depressed and cast down" , "Down in the mouth" , "Downhearted" , "Despondent" , "Melancholy" .)

I've seen this clue in The Independent.
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