Mother and soldier caught in enchantment (5)
I believe the answer is:
magic
'enchantment' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'mother and soldier caught' is the wordplay.
'mother' becomes 'ma' (ma is a kind of mother).
'and' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'soldier' becomes 'gi' (government issue or general issue).
'caught' becomes 'c' (cricket abbreviation).
'ma'+'gi'+'c'='MAGIC'
'in' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for magic that I've seen before include "Great" , "Fungus causing trips?" , "Unexpectedly produce" , "Supernatural power" , "Prestidigitation" .)