What may be perfect figure with statue's outline (5)
I believe the answer is:
tense
'what may be perfect' is the definition.
(as in the perfect tense)
'figure with statue's outline' is the wordplay.
'figure' becomes 'ten' (I've seen this before).
'with' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'outline' says to hollow out the word (remove centre letters) (only the letters on the outline of the word).
'statue' with its centre taken out is 'se'.
'ten'+'se'='TENSE'
(Other definitions for tense that I've seen before include "Strained by time in grammar" , "Anxious, nervous" , "far from comfortable" , "under stress?" , "(Of muscle) tight" .)