The Spanish isle and Gibraltar the French appropriate (8)
I believe the answer is:
eligible
'appropriate' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'the spanish isle and gibraltar the french' is the wordplay.
'the spanish' becomes 'el' ('the' in Spanish).
'isle' becomes 'i' (geographical abbreviation).
'and' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'gibraltar' becomes 'gib' (nickname for Gibraltar).
'the french' becomes 'le' ('the' in French).
'el'+'i'+'gib'+'le'='ELIGIBLE'
(Other definitions for eligible that I've seen before include "Qualified or fit as bachelor may be" , "Acceptable" , "Qualified to be chosen, say a bachelor" , "Regarded as suitable, perhaps for marriage" , "Qualified, entitled" .)