Experiences initial difficulty in speechmaking (8)
I believe the answer is:
stutters
'experiences' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are verbs in their -s form, I cannot understand how they can define each other.
I don't understand how the rest of the clue works.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for stutters that I've seen before include "Speaks with hesitant repetition of first consonants" , "Stammers in repeating the first consonants of words" , "Speaks haltingly" , "impediments" , "falters" .)