Tasteful short lament by soldier (7)
I believe the answer is:
elegant
'tasteful' is the definition.
(similar in meaning)
'short lament by soldier' is the wordplay.
'short' means to remove the last letter.
'lament' becomes 'elegy' (synonyms).
'by' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'soldier' becomes 'ant' (soldier is a type of ant).
'elegy' with its final letter taken away is 'eleg'.
'eleg'+'ant'='ELEGANT'
(Other definitions for elegant that I've seen before include "Neat leg? (anag)" , "Well-dressed" , "Stylish in appearance, a gentle kind" , "Attractive and graceful or stylish" , "Cleverly simple" .)