Relative close to collapse in pleasant surroundings (5)
I believe the answer is:
niece
'relative' is the definition.
(niece is a kind of relative)
'close to collapse in pleasant surroundings' is the wordplay.
'close to' indicates one should take the final letters (the close/ending of).
'in pleasant' becomes 'nice' ('nice' is associated in meaning with 'pleasant'. I am not sure about the 'in' bit.**).
'surroundings' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
The final letter of 'collapse' is 'e'.
'e' inserted inside 'nice' is 'NIECE'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for niece that I've seen before include "Daughter of a sibling" , "Female family member" , "Family girl" , "Young female relative" , "Female relation" .)