Maybe the recital was bad? (7)

I believe the answer is:

article

'maybe the' is the definition.
('the' is the definite article)

'recital was bad?' is the wordplay.
'was bad?' is an anagram indicator (I've seen 'being bad' mean this).
'recital' with letters rearranged gives 'ARTICLE'.

(Other definitions for article that I've seen before include "Object - piece of writing" , "Object and newspaper story" , "Maybe the" , "Rile cat (anag.)" , "See 10" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.

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