Mark again sees stars, being confused combatant finally knocked out (8)
I believe the answer is:
reassess
'mark' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both related to thinking as well as being verbs in their base form.
Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'again sees stars being confused combatant finally knocked out' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'again' could be 're' (prefix meaning 'again') and 're' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'assess' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for reassess that I've seen before include "Newly evaluate" , "Revise judgment" , "size up again" , "Make a further judgement" , "Estimate again, take another measure of" .)