Man, upset male in bits (9)
I believe the answer is:
piecemeal
'in bits' is the definition.
(in several pieces)
'man upset male' is the wordplay.
'man' becomes 'piece' (synonyms).
'upset' indicates anagramming the letters.
'male' anagrammed gives 'meal'.
'piece'+'meal'='PIECEMEAL'
(Other definitions for piecemeal that I've seen before include "step by step" , "Unsystematically" , "taken bit by bit" , "a little at a time" , "Gradually, little by little" .)