Standard refusal to meet Royal Marines (4)
I believe the answer is:
norm
'standard' is the definition.
(I know that norm is a type of standard)
'refusal to meet royal marines' is the wordplay.
'refusal' becomes 'no' (it's a no).
'to meet' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'royal marines' becomes 'RM' (abbreviation).
'no'+'rm'='NORM'
(Other definitions for norm that I've seen before include "Rule, standard, pattern" , "Standard level of performance" , "Standard considered to be representative" , "Required or acceptable standard" , "Benchmark" .)