Pressure and freedom is commonplace (9)
I believe the answer is:
platitude
'commonplace' is the definition.
(I know that commonplace can be written as platitude)
'pressure and freedom' is the wordplay.
'pressure' becomes 'p' (abbreviation).
'and' says to put letters next to each other.
'freedom' becomes 'latitude' (latitude is a kind of freedom).
'p'+'latitude'='PLATITUDE'
'is' is the link.
(Other definitions for platitude that I've seen before include "Empty remark" , "Cliche" , "Trite saying" , "Commonplace remark uttered solemnly" , "Trite observation" .)