Miserable effort by friend (6)
I believe the answer is:
paltry
'miserable' is the definition.
('paltry' can be a synonym of 'miserable')
'effort by friend' is the wordplay.
'effort' becomes 'try' ('try' can be a synonym of 'effort'**).
'by' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'friend' becomes 'pal' (pal is a kind of friend).
'try' put after 'pal' is 'PALTRY'.
(Other definitions for paltry that I've seen before include "Mean - trifling" , "Measly, trifling" , "Insignificant, trifling" , "Small and mean" , "not worth considering" .)