Hear about old misfortune (7)
I believe the answer is:
tragedy
'misfortune' is the definition.
(I know that tragedy is a type of misfortune)
'hear about old' is the wordplay.
'hear' becomes 'try' (to hear or try a case in the legal sense).
'about' is an insertion indicator.
'old' becomes 'aged' (similar in meaning).
'try' placed around 'aged' is 'TRAGEDY'.
(Other definitions for tragedy that I've seen before include "King Lear, perhaps" , "play like 'Macbeth', for example" , "Calamity, disaster" , "shocking event" , "play by Aeschylus?" .)