Soothing one ill-met badly (9)
I believe the answer is:
emollient
'soothing' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'one ill-met badly' is the wordplay.
'badly' is an anagram indicator.
'one'+'ill'+'met'='oneillmet'
'oneillmet' anagrammed gives 'EMOLLIENT'.
(Other definitions for emollient that I've seen before include "Softening, soothing" , "soothing agent" , "Softening the skin" , "Application like a poultice - lemon lite (anag)" , "Intended to pacify girl" .)