Subjected to repulsive treatment (8)
I believe the answer is:
repelled
'subjected' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both related to competing as well as being past participle verbs.
Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?
I don't understand how the remainder of the clue works.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for repelled that I've seen before include "Driven back" , "Drove away" , "Fought off" , "Forced or drove back" , "Drove something or someone back" .)