Sloppy embrace involving the French (8)
I believe the answer is:
careless
'sloppy' is the definition.
(similar in meaning)
'embrace involving the french' is the wordplay.
'embrace' becomes 'caress' (I've seen this before).
'involving' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'the french' becomes 'le' ('the' in French).
'caress' placed around 'le' is 'CARELESS'.
(Other definitions for careless that I've seen before include "Inattentive - nonchalant" , "Unconcerned; casual" , "Marked by lack of attention" , "Not careful or thorough enough" , "Negligent - nonchalant" .)