Pleasure beginning to gain approval (13)
I believe the answer is:
gratification
'pleasure' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'beginning to gain approval' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'approval' could be 'ratification' (ratification is a kind of approval) and 'ratification' is located in the answer.
A single letter 'g' remains which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for gratification that I've seen before include "Delight" , "giving pleasure" , "Feeling of satisfaction" , "Source of pleasure" .)