Soldier has almost left a pattern (7)
I believe the answer is:
paragon
'a pattern' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'soldier has almost left' is the wordplay.
'soldier has' becomes 'para' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'almost' means to remove the last letter (most of the word but not all of it).
'left' becomes 'gone' (go can mean to leave).
'gone' with its final letter taken away is 'gon'.
'para'+'gon'='PARAGON'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for paragon that I've seen before include "Model of conduct" , "A perfect person - pagan or what?" , "Role model" , "Perfect diamond" , "Perfect type" .)