Squeeze inside clothing for severe criticism (5)
I believe the answer is:
snipe
'criticism' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'squeeze inside clothing for severe' is the wordplay.
'squeeze' becomes 'nip' (synonyms).
'inside' indicates putting letters inside.
'clothing for' suggests removing the centre (only the letters which clothe the word).
'severe' with its centre removed is 'se'.
'nip' put into 'se' is 'SNIPE'.
(Other definitions for snipe that I've seen before include "Shoot from place of concealment" , "Game bird" , "Pines for bog bird" , "Curlew or sandpiper" , "Wading bird; shoot from concealment" .)