Knot in macrame is swell, say (11)
I believe the answer is:
americanism
'swell say' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both human attributes as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps there's an association between them I don't understand?
'knot in macrame is' is the wordplay.
'knot' is an anagram indicator (I've seen 'knotted' mean this).
'in'+'macrame'+'is'='inmacrameis'
'inmacrameis' is an anagram of 'AMERICANISM'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for americanism that I've seen before include "Custom or phrase from the US" , "Uncle Sam's expression" .)