Victor is in dreadful poor condition (7)
I believe the answer is:
proviso
'condition' is the definition.
(proviso is a kind of condition)
'victor is in dreadful poor' is the wordplay.
'victor' becomes 'v' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.).
'in' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'dreadful' indicates an anagram.
'v'+'is'='vis'
'poor' with letters rearranged gives 'proo'.
'vis' going inside 'proo' is 'PROVISO'.
(Other definitions for proviso that I've seen before include "Stipulation (in contract)" , "Something insisted upon as part of an agreement" , "Condition, qualification" , "Condition of stipulation of an agreement" , "Rider" .)