Withdrawn copper distressed in heart of Nevada (9)

I believe the answer is:

evacuated

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'withdrawn' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are adjectives. Perhaps there's an association between them I don't understand?

'copper distressed in heart of nevada' is the wordplay.
'copper' becomes 'cu' (chemical symbol).
'distressed' becomes 'ate' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'heart of' means to look at the middle letters.
The central letters of 'nevada' are 'evad'.
'cu'+'ate'='cuate'
'cuate' going into 'evad' is 'EVACUATED'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for evacuated that I've seen before include "Left empty" , "abandoned" , "Cleared" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.