Face leader avoiding furious debate (9)
I believe the answer is:
dialectic
'debate' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'face leader avoiding furious' is the wordplay.
'face' becomes 'dial' (dial is a kind of face).
'leader avoiding' means to remove the first letter.
'furious' becomes 'hectic' (I've seen this before).
'hectic' with its initial letter taken off is 'ectic'.
'dial'+'ectic'='DIALECTIC'
(Other definitions for dialectic that I've seen before include "Disputation" , "Relating to discourse" , "Art of discussing truth of opinions" , "Debate to resolve conflicts" , "Pertaining to discourse" .)