Enliven an initially incapacitated pal (7)
I believe the answer is:
animate
'enliven' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'an initially incapacitated pal' is the wordplay.
'initially' says to take the initial letters.
'pal' becomes 'mate' (both can mean a friend).
The initial letter of 'incapacitated' is 'i'.
'an'+'i'+'mate'='ANIMATE'
(Other definitions for animate that I've seen before include "Liven up" , "Enliven like cartoon" , "Enliven, inject energy into" , "Make lively like cartoon" , "Enliven, alive" .)