Very miserable wife gagged (8)
I believe the answer is:
wretched
'very miserable' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'wife gagged' is the wordplay.
'wife' becomes 'w' (abbreviation).
'gagged' becomes 'retched' (retch can mean to gag or clear one's throat).
'w'+'retched'='WRETCHED'
(Other definitions for wretched that I've seen before include "Sorry!" , "Most unfortunate, piteous" , "Poor" , "Distressingly bad" , "Hapless" .)