Liberal as paradigm taking out erstwhile partner (5)
I believe the answer is:
ample
'liberal' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'paradigm taking out erstwhile partner' is the wordplay.
'paradigm' becomes 'example' (paradigm can mean an example or model).
'taking out' indicates named letters should be taken away.
'erstwhile partner' becomes 'ex' (an ex-partner).
'example' with 'ex' taken away is 'AMPLE'.
'as' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for ample that I've seen before include "Fairly large" , "Plentiful; capacious" , "Big" , "Copious - abundant" , "No more, please!" .)