Terribly limp Erica, but pragmatic (9)
I believe the answer is:
empirical
'pragmatic' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'terribly limp erica' is the wordplay.
'terribly' is an anagram indicator.
'limp'+'erica'='limperica'
'limperica' is an anagram of 'EMPIRICAL'.
'but' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for empirical that I've seen before include "established by trial" , "Based on observation or experience" , "Replica I'm making from observation, not theory" , "Mail price (anag.)" , "Established by experiment" .)