Honour a new nation (4)
I believe the answer is:
oman
'nation' is the definition.
(Oman is an example)
'honour a new' is the wordplay.
'honour' becomes 'om' (Order of Merit).
'new' becomes 'n' (common abbreviation eg NT for New Testament).
'om'+'a'+'n'='OMAN'
(Other definitions for oman that I've seen before include "Former Gulf country, Muscat and --" , "Arabian country, capital Muscat" , "Land" , "monarchy" , "Gulf sultanate" .)