Is soldier for example retreating after duke's ridicule? (9)
I believe the answer is:
disparage
'ridicule?' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'is soldier for example retreating after duke's' is the wordplay.
'soldier' becomes 'para' (para is a kind of soldier).
'for example' becomes 'e.g.' (synonyms).
'retreating' shows that the letters should be reversed in order.
'after' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'duke' becomes 'd'.
'eg' written backwards gives 'ge'.
'is'+'para'+'ge'='isparage'
'isparage' after 'd' is 'DISPARAGE'.
(Other definitions for disparage that I've seen before include "I grasped a change to belittle" , "Slight" , "Run down" , "Scorn" , "Belittled" .)