Land of France in the depression is very off-putting (9)
I believe the answer is:
deterrent
'land of france' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are adjectives. Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?
'in the depression is very off-putting' is the wordplay.
'in the' indicates putting letters inside.
'depression' becomes 'dent' (dent is a kind of depression).
'is very off putting' becomes 'terre' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'dent' going around 'terre' is 'DETERRENT'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for deterrent that I've seen before include "Discouragement, disincentive" , "Something discouraging action" , "Something intended to discourage" , "It discourages someone from doing something" , "Nuclear weapons allegedly" .)