Secure, compared to American stars (7)
I believe the answer is:
pegasus
'stars' is the definition.
(constellation)
'secure compared to american' is the wordplay.
'secure' becomes 'peg'.
'compared to' becomes 'as' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'american' becomes 'US' (United States).
'peg'+'as'+'us'='PEGASUS'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for pegasus that I've seen before include "with a place in the firmament" , "mount in the clouds" , "group of stars" , "Mythical flying horse" , "Mythical winged horse" .)