Incline to follow Conservative stiffness (5)
I believe the answer is:
cramp
'stiffness' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are singular nouns, I don't see how one could define the other.
'incline to follow conservative' is the wordplay.
'incline' becomes 'ramp' ('ramp' can be a synonym of 'incline'**).
'to follow' says to put letters next to each other.
'conservative' becomes 'c' (abbreviation commonly used in UK politics).
'ramp' put after 'c' is 'CRAMP'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for cramp that I've seen before include "Sudden painful tightening of a muscle" , "Severe muscular pain" , "Painful muscular contraction" , "Give too little space to" , "Muscle spasm" .)