Settled back with Independent article (4)
I believe the answer is:
item
'article' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'settled back with independent' is the wordplay.
'settled' becomes 'met' (I've seen this in other clues**).
'back' shows that the letters should be reversed in order.
'with' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'independent' becomes 'i'.
'met' back-to-front is 'tem'.
'tem' put after 'i' is 'ITEM'.
(Other definitions for item that I've seen before include "couple linked" , "Something on list" , "Individual article or unit" , "Particular" , "Two people considered together (informal)" .)