Write down rubbish ape recited (10)
I believe the answer is:
depreciate
'write down' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'rubbish ape recited' is the wordplay.
'rubbish' is an anagram indicator.
'ape'+'recited'='aperecited'
'aperecited' with letters rearranged gives 'DEPRECIATE'.
(Other definitions for depreciate that I've seen before include "Belittle; lose value" , "Lose value with time" , "Gradually lose value" .)