French leader getting sick and conking out (7)
I believe the answer is:
failing
'conking out' is the definition.
('fail' can be a synonym of 'conk out')
'french leader getting sick' is the wordplay.
'french leader getting' becomes 'f' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'sick' becomes 'ailing' (similar in meaning).
'f'+'ailing'='FAILING'
'and' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for failing that I've seen before include "conking out" , "Weak point" , "becoming frail" , "Flunking" , "Defect" .)