I am a long time getting the likeness (5)
I believe the answer is:
image
'likeness' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'i am a long time getting' is the wordplay.
'i am' becomes 'I'm' (contraction).
'a long time' becomes 'age' (an age is a period of time).
'getting' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'im'+'age'='IMAGE'
'the' is the link.
(Other definitions for image that I've seen before include "Figure (of speech?)" , "personality" , "Likeness U symbol" , "Presentation" , "Likeness or mental picture" .)