Ignoring the odds, bees were abundant, and held in great respect (8)
I believe the answer is:
esteemed
'held in great respect' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both related to thinking as well as being past participle verbs.
Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?
'ignoring the odds bees were abundant' is the wordplay.
'ignoring the odds' indicates alternate letters (letters in odd-numbered positions are removed).
'were abundant' becomes 'teemed' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
The alternate letters of 'bees' are 'es'.
'es'+'teemed'='ESTEEMED'
'and' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for esteemed that I've seen before include "Highly-valued" , "Highly regarded" , "Respected, admired" , "Respected and valued, like customer" , "Dear" .)