Sam meets lively Army colleague (8)

I believe the answer is:

messmate

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'army colleague' is the definition.
'messmate' can be an answer for 'colleague' (thesaurus). I'm unsure of the 'army' bit.

'sam meets lively' is the wordplay.
'lively' indicates anagramming the letters (letters get livened up or moved around).
'sam'+'meets'='sammeets'
'sammeets' is an anagram of 'MESSMATE'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for messmate that I've seen before include "Sharer of the same (military) accommodation" , "(In the navy) someone with whom one shares communal facilities" , "Military colleague sharing a 4 down" , "Eating companion in army or navy" , "Army companion sharing a 4 down" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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