Ironed after work; cruelly treated (9)
I believe the answer is:
oppressed
'cruelly treated' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both to do with social activities as well as being past participle verbs.
Maybe you can see an association between them that I don't see?
'ironed after work' is the wordplay.
'ironed' becomes 'pressed' (similar in meaning).
'after' says to put letters next to each other.
'work' becomes 'op' (common abbreviation for 'opus').
'pressed' after 'op' is 'OPPRESSED'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for oppressed that I've seen before include "Burdened, physically or mentally" , "Downtrodden" , "Tormented" , "Governed harshly, weighed down" , "Gave too much weight to" .)