Resist work and put on airs (6)
I believe the answer is:
oppose
'resist' is the definition.
(I know that oppose is a is a kind of of resist)
'work and put on airs' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'work' could be 'op' (short for opus) and 'op' is located in the answer.
'put' could be 'pose' (synonyms) and 'pose' is present in the answer.
No letters remain.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for oppose that I've seen before include "Resist, go against" , "Take stand against, resist" , "face" , "match" , "Counter" .)