Romantic that is embracing old ringmaster (8)
I believe the answer is:
idealist
'romantic' is the definition.
(romantic can mean an idealistic person)
'that is embracing old ringmaster' is the wordplay.
'that is' becomes 'id est' ('that is' in Latin).
'embracing' is an insertion indicator.
'old ringmaster' becomes 'ali' (I've seen this before. I am not sure about the 'old' bit.).
'idest' placed around 'ali' is 'IDEALIST'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for idealist that I've seen before include "Visionary" , "An optimist or romantic" , "Person striving for perfection" , "Person with lofty and unselfish aspirations" , "One pursuing perfection" .)