Seaman with an irrational dread of being scratched (7)
I believe the answer is:
abraded
'being scratched' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are adjectives. Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'seaman with an irrational dread' is the wordplay.
'seaman' becomes 'ab' (short for able seaman).
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'an irrational' is an anagram indicator.
'dread' with letters rearranged gives 'raded'.
'ab'+'raded'='ABRADED'
'of' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for abraded that I've seen is " Worn away".)