Wretched sailor given hollow justice by court (6)
I believe the answer is:
abject
'wretched' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'sailor given hollow justice by court' is the wordplay.
'sailor' becomes 'ab' (abbreviation for able seaman).
'given' says to put letters next to each other.
'hollow' means to remove the middle letters (the word is hollowed out).
'by' says to put letters next to each other.
'court' becomes 'ct' (abbreviation used in road names).
'justice' with its centre taken out is 'je'.
'ab'+'je'+'ct'='ABJECT'
(Other definitions for abject that I've seen before include "Mean, wretched" , "Extremely humble" , "Obsequious or grovelling, as apology may be" , "Wretched, lacking all pride - perhaps an apology" , "Completely without pride" .)