Lost son alive in the country (8)
I believe the answer is:
slovenia
'country' is the definition.
(Slovenia is an example)
'lost son alive' is the wordplay.
'lost' indicates anagramming the letters.
'son'+'alive'='sonalive'
'sonalive' with letters rearranged gives 'SLOVENIA'.
'in the' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for slovenia that I've seen before include "Central European republic, became independent in 1991" , "No valise to be found in the central European republic" , "State" , "in E" , "European country, capital Ljubljana" .)