Suffer when exposed in speech (4)
I believe the answer is:
bear
'suffer' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'exposed in speech' is the wordplay.
'exposed' becomes 'bare' (I've seen this in other clues).
'in speech' shows a homophone (sound like).
'bare' is a homophone of 'BEAR'.
'when' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for bear that I've seen before include "Relating to charged particles" , "Endure - mammal" , "Paddington, for example?" , "Huge carnivore" , "Endure; animal" .)