Frightful villa by small houses (7)
I believe the answer is:
abysmal
'frightful' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are adjectives. Perhaps you can see an association between them that I can't see?
'villa by small houses' is the wordplay.
'houses' indicates a hidden word (part of the clue houses the answer).
'ABYSMAL' can be found hidden inside 'villa by small'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for abysmal that I've seen before include "Unfathomable - extremely bad" , "Very deep or bad" , "Deplorable, extremely bad - say ignorance" , "Very bad or bottomless" , "Extremely bad, appalling" .)