Exquisite requiem's abridged by worker (7)
I believe the answer is:
elegant
'exquisite' is the definition.
(similar in meaning)
'requiem's abridged by worker' is the wordplay.
'requiem' becomes 'elegy' (I've seen this before).
'abridged' means to remove the last letter.
'by' says to put letters next to each other.
'worker' becomes 'ant' (worker is a type of ant).
'elegy' with its final letter taken off is 'eleg'.
'eleg'+'ant'='ELEGANT'
(Other definitions for elegant that I've seen before include "Chic; smart" , "Tasteful and refined in appearance" , "Stylish in appearance, a gentle kind" , "Gracefully stylish" , "Well-dressed" .)