Nervous of conflict with unknown (4)
I believe the answer is:
wary
'nervous' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are adjectives. Maybe you can see a link between them that I can't see?
'conflict with unknown' is the wordplay.
'conflict' becomes 'war' (war is a kind of conflict).
'with' says to put letters next to each other.
'unknown' becomes 'y' (algebra).
'war'+'y'='WARY'
'of' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for wary that I've seen before include "Cautious - vigilant" , "Guarded" , "James Bond villain" , "Displaying caution" , "Cautious and vigilant.17 Add up for infant" .)