Smear nation state (6)
I believe the answer is:
grease
'smear nation state' is the definition.
'grease' can be an answer for 'smear' (thesaurus). I am not sure about the 'nation state' bit.
'smear nation state' is the wordplay.
'smear nation' becomes 'gr' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'state' becomes 'ease' (ease is a kind of state).
'gr'+'ease'='GREASE'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for grease that I've seen before include "Mechanic (informal)" , "Lubricate (-ant)" , "Fully aware, astonished" , "Musical starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John" , "Musical that sounds like a country" .)