Aunt Clare got staggering praise (12)
I believe the answer is:
congratulate
'praise' is the definition.
(I know that congratulate is a type of praise)
'aunt clare got staggering' is the wordplay.
'staggering' indicates anagramming the letters (letters stagger around).
'aunt'+'clare'+'got'='auntclaregot'
'auntclaregot' is an anagram of 'CONGRATULATE'.
(Other definitions for congratulate that I've seen before include "Praise (someone) for an achievement" , "Compliment" , "Wish joy to" .)