Virginia finds cover official (5)
I believe the answer is:
valid
'official' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'virginia finds cover' is the wordplay.
'virginia' becomes 'va' (US state abbreviation).
'finds' says to put letters next to each other.
'cover' becomes 'lid' (lid is a kind of cover).
'va'+'lid'='VALID'
(Other definitions for valid that I've seen before include "Effective" , "Legally in force" , "Legal, authentic" , "Effectual" , "Sound and logical, also legal" .)