Sort of terror about to overwhelm model (2,2,4)
I believe the answer is:
as it were
'sort of' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'terror about to overwhelm model' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'about' could be 're' (common abbreviation for 'with reference to') and 're' is located in the answer.
'model' could be 'sit' (synonyms) and 'sit' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'awe' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for as it were that I've seen before include "In a manner of speaking" , "As if it was actually so" , "you might say" , "In sort of" , "Seemingly" .)