Star, for example, discovered in advance? (6)
I believe the answer is:
legend
'star' is the definition.
(both can mean an iconic person)
'example discovered in advance?' is the wordplay.
'example' becomes 'eg' (short for 'exempli gratia', 'for example' in Latin).
'discovered in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'advance?' becomes 'lend' (advancing is a kind of lending).
'eg' going inside 'lend' is 'LEGEND'.
'for' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for legend that I've seen before include "Story handed down from the past" , "explanation" , "Tale; caption" , "Motto" , "Former top player" .)