Met table in terrible need (11)
I believe the answer is:
encountered
'met' is the definition.
('encounter' can be a synonym of 'meet')
'table in terrible need' is the wordplay.
'table' becomes 'counter' (counter is a kind of table).
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'terrible' indicates anagramming the letters.
'need' is an anagram of 'ened'.
'counter' placed within 'ened' is 'ENCOUNTERED'.
(Other definitions for encountered that I've seen before include "Came across" , "Met" , "Ran into" .)