Vehemently pious. It's about time (5)
I believe the answer is:
hotly
'vehemently' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are adverbs. Perhaps you can see an association between them that I don't see?
'pious it's about time' is the wordplay.
'pious' becomes 'holy' (both mean religious).
'it's about' indicates putting letters inside.
'time' becomes 't' (abbreviation).
'holy' enclosing 't' is 'HOTLY'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for hotly that I've seen before include "in an ardent manner" , "showing eagerness" , "Heatedly" , "disputed thus?" , "With zeal - as one may be pursued" .)