Wife a certain duke's adopted becomes possessed (5)
I believe the answer is:
owned
'possessed' is the definition.
('own' can be a synonym of 'possess')
'wife a certain duke's adopted' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'wife' could be 'w' (abbreviation) and 'w' is located in the answer.
'a' could be 'one' and 'one' is found within the remaining letters.
'duke' could be 'd' (abbreviation) and 'd' is located in the answer.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'becomes' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for owned that I've seen before include "made a confession" , "admitted making confession" , "Endow (anag)" , "to oneself?" , "Had lawful title to" .)