Soldier almost left a pattern (7)
I believe the answer is:
paragon
'a pattern' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'soldier almost left' is the wordplay.
'soldier' becomes 'para' (paratrooper).
'almost' means to remove the last letter (almost the whole word is kept).
'left' becomes 'gone' (go can mean to leave).
'gone' with its last letter taken off is 'gon'.
'para'+'gon'='PARAGON'
(Other definitions for paragon that I've seen before include "Perfect type" , "An ideal" , "Exemplar" , "Perfect example of a quality" , "A perfect person - pagan or what?" .)