Serious article grasped by a man (7)
I believe the answer is:
earnest
'serious' is the definition.
(similar in meaning)
'article grasped by a man' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'article' could be 'a' (the indefinite article in English) and 'a' is located in the answer.
'man' could be 'ernest' (I've seen this before) and 'ernest' is located in the leftover letters.
This accounts for all the letters.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for earnest that I've seen before include "Sneer at (anag) -- serious" , "guarantee" , "businesslike" , "'Serious, sincere (7)'" , "Determined - heartfelt" .)