Secretive Scottish family all but doomed (11)
I believe the answer is:
clandestine
'secretive' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are adjectives. Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'scottish family all but doomed' is the wordplay.
'scottish family' becomes 'clan' (I've seen this in another clue).
'all but' means to remove the last letter ('all but' can mean 'almost' or 'nearly').
'doomed' becomes 'destined' ('destine' can be a synonym of 'doom').
'destined' with its last letter taken away is 'destine'.
'clan'+'destine'='CLANDESTINE'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for clandestine that I've seen before include "through the backdoor" , "Private" , "Secret" , "Concealed" , "Surreptitious" .)