Genuine article returned broken by Charlie (4)
I believe the answer is:
echt
'genuine' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'article returned broken by charlie' is the wordplay.
'article' becomes 'the' (the definite article in English).
'returned' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'broken by' indicates putting letters inside.
'charlie' becomes 'c' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.).
'the' written backwards gives 'eht'.
'eht' enclosing 'c' is 'ECHT'.
(Other definitions for echt that I've seen before include "Genuine -- honest" , "Really" , "Genuine (Ger.)" , "Genuine - authentic" , "Genuine (German)" .)