Scholar I made out, engaged in dubious acts (9)
I believe the answer is:
academist
'scholar' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are singular nouns.
Maybe there's a link between them I don't understand?
'i made out engaged in dubious acts' is the wordplay.
'out' is an anagram indicator (out can mean wrong or inaccurate).
'engaged in' is an insertion indicator.
'dubious' indicates anagramming the letters.
'i'+'made'='imade'
'imade' anagrammed gives 'ademi'.
'acts' with letters rearranged gives 'acst'.
'ademi' inserted within 'acst' is 'ACADEMIST'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for academist that I've seen is " Member of institute".)