Run from conflict in romance (7)
I believe the answer is:
fiction
'romance' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'run from conflict' is the wordplay.
'run' becomes 'r' (cricket abbreviation).
'from' is a deletion indicator.
'conflict' becomes 'friction' (friction is a kind of conflict).
'friction' with 'r' taken away is 'FICTION'.
'in' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for fiction that I've seen before include "Deliberately false account" , "See 9" , "lie" , "Imaginary prose" , "It isn''t true" .)