Swaggering hitman accepting promotion (7)
I believe the answer is:
bravado
'swaggering' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'hitman accepting promotion' is the wordplay.
'hitman' becomes 'bravo' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'accepting' is an insertion indicator.
'promotion' becomes 'ad' (ad is a kind of promotion).
'bravo' going around 'ad' is 'BRAVADO'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for bravado that I've seen before include "Boldness intended to impress" , "Show of boldness to impress" , "Impressive boldness" , "boasting" , "Unjustified assertion of confidence" .)