In Micawber’s overspent state a pound is ungenerous (7)
I believe the answer is:
miserly
'ungenerous' is the definition.
('miserly' can be similar in meaning to 'ungenerous')
'in micawber's overspent state a pound' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'pound' could be 'l' and 'l' is found within the answer.
'state' could be 'misery' (misery is a kind of state) and 'misery' is present in the leftover letters.
No letters remain.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).
'is' is the link.
(Other definitions for miserly that I've seen before include "Like Scrooge" , "Parsimonious" , "Niggardly" , "Stingy" , "Near" .)