Group of patriots (4)
I believe the answer is:
trio
'group' is the definition.
(a group of three)
'of patriots' is the wordplay.
'of' indicates a hidden word.
'TRIO' is hidden within 'patriots'.
(Other definitions for trio that I've seen before include "Three of a kind" , "Three together" , "Beethoven's 'Archduke': famous piece written for this ensemble" , "Archduke, possibly" , "Group of Magi?" .)