Distinguished parade meets Eisenhower, partly getting held up (8)
I believe the answer is:
esteemed
'distinguished' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'parade meets eisenhower partly getting held up' is the wordplay.
'partly' says the answer is hidden in the clue (part of the clue is used).
'getting held up' is a reversal indicator (in a down clue, letters go up).
'demeetse' can be found hidden inside 'parade meets eisenhower'.
'demeetse' in reverse letter order is 'ESTEEMED'.
(Other definitions for esteemed that I've seen before include "attracting veneration" , "Well-regarded" , "Highly thought of, respected" , "Meet seed being thought well of" , "Prized" .)