Useless deli in difficulties (4)
I believe the answer is:
idle
'useless' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'deli in difficulties' is the wordplay.
'in difficulties' is an anagram indicator (I've seen this in other clues).
'deli' is an anagram of 'IDLE'.
(Other definitions for idle that I've seen before include "Do very little" , "Not used to work" , "Unoccupied or not in use" , "Unoccupied (time); run (engine) slowly" , "At rest" .)