Start to accept fish in sea abroad seem diseased? (8)
I believe the answer is:
malinger
'seem diseased?' is the definition.
(to malinger is to pretend to be ill)
'start to accept fish in sea abroad' is the wordplay.
'start to' suggests taking the first letters.
'fish' becomes 'ling' (ling is a kind of fish).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'sea abroad' becomes 'mer' ('sea' in French).
The first letter of 'accept' is 'a'.
'a'+'ling'='aling'
'aling' put within 'mer' is 'MALINGER'.
(Other definitions for malinger that I've seen before include "shirk responsibilities" , "Feign sickness to avoid work." , "Feign illness to avoid work" , "Avoid work by feigning illness" , "Skive by pretending to be ill" .)