Encourage the near desperate (7)
I believe the answer is:
hearten
'encourage' is the definition.
(I know that hearten is a kind of encourage)
'the near desperate' is the wordplay.
'desperate' indicates an anagram (a desperate or pathetic spelling).
'the'+'near'='thenear'
'thenear' with letters rearranged gives 'HEARTEN'.
(Other definitions for hearten that I've seen before include "Comfort" , "Be encouraged" , "Inspirit" , "Make cheerful" , "Buoy" .)