Encourage to give attention to a broken net (7)
I believe the answer is:
hearten
'encourage' is the definition.
(I know that hearten is a more specific form of encourage)
'give attention to a broken net' is the wordplay.
'give' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'attention' becomes 'hear' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'to a broken' indicates an anagram.
'net' with letters rearranged gives 'ten'.
'hear' put next to 'ten' is 'HEARTEN'.
'to' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for hearten that I've seen before include "Encourage or cheer in cardiac manner" , "Inspire anew" , "giving cheer" , "Make (someone) more confident" , "Make cheerful" .)