Snake European caught with tense appearance (6)
I believe the answer is:
aspect
'appearance' is the definition.
(aspect is a kind of appearance)
'snake european caught with tense' is the wordplay.
'snake' becomes 'asp' (asp is a kind of snake).
'european' becomes 'e' (abbreviation e.g. EU).
'caught' becomes 'c' (cricket abbreviation**).
'with' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'tense' becomes 't' (abbreviation used in many dictionaries).
'asp'+'e'+'c'+'t'='ASPECT'
(Other definitions for aspect that I've seen before include "The appearance presented" , "View, outlook" , "View or facet" , "front" , "Angle" .)