Million trapped by a frightful rate (6)
I believe the answer is:
admire
'rate' is the definition.
Although both the answer and definition are verbs in their base form, I can't understand how they can define each other.
'million trapped by a frightful' is the wordplay.
'million' becomes 'm' (abbreviation).
'trapped by' is an insertion indicator.
'frightful' becomes 'dire' (I've seen this before).
'a'+'dire'='adire'
'm' going within 'adire' is 'ADMIRE'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for admire that I've seen before include "Respect greatly" , "Respect and approve of" , "Goggle at" , "Esteem, have high regard for" , "Regard approvingly" .)