Novelty pub gets applause (10)
I believe the answer is:
innovation
'novelty' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'pub gets applause' is the wordplay.
'pub' becomes 'inn' (I've seen this before).
'gets' says to put letters next to each other.
'applause' becomes 'ovation' (I've seen this before).
'inn'+'ovation'='INNOVATION'
(Other definitions for innovation that I've seen before include "New idea" , "Something introduced as a novelty" , "New product" , "original" , "What's new" .)